Dream? No, this is reality, kid
by GlitterLizard
Summary: When Skylar lost her sister, she lost hope... but when she gets transported to a different universe, where 'Supernatural' isn't just a TV show anymore... she gains a little bit of that hope back. It wasn't perfect there, but it was something at least. (WARNING: Self-harm is mentioned in this fiction, and a bit of swearing, so please read at your own discretion)
1. It's just a dream, it has to be

**WARNING: This fic includes depression, self-harming and suicidal thoughts, so if you are triggered by or are sensitive about these topics, please DO NOT read this fiction. It isn't super detailed about how the mc self-harms, but it's still there, along with the reasoning's why and the emotions behind it; so please DO NOT read this if you don't want to read anything to do with any of these topics. Also, I just want to say that if you, yourself, self-harm, have depression, or have suicidal thoughts, but still want to read this fic or are just reading this note, I know this might not mean much, or anything at all, coming from someone you don't know, but please, just know that you _are_ worth it. You deserve to live and see _all_ of what life has to offer. I, myself, have been through dark times, so please trust me when I say it _does_ get better. I know you have probably heard that a million times, I have as well, and even though you possibly think it's complete bullshit, it's not. Life has its ups and downs, and a lot of people have more downs than they do ups, but the ups _are_ worth it. You _can_ do this. You _can_ get through whatever it is you are dealing with. No matter how small you may think it is, it's big enough to make you feel the way you feel. So with that said, please, (when you're ready to of course) talk to someone about whatever it is that makes you feel the way you do. If that's family, or friends, or your significant other, or your teacher, or _whoever_ you are close to, you _can_ talk to them about what you're going through. If you don't feel ready to talk to the people you are close to, that's perfectly okay, just know that there are people out there willing to listen. Doctor's, therapists, organisations like Crisis text line. You can even talk to me if you ever need to. I'm here if need be, and so is everyone else. You may think that they wouldn't understand, but they will at least _try_ to understand, to the best of their ability, and they'll be there for you. Even if you might not think it, there _are_ people who care about you. People who _love_ you. Unfortunately, depression and anxiety don't have a switch that you can just flick and everything is suddenly okay. It will take time. But you _will_ get through it. It'll be tough, but you'll get through it and be able to live your life the way _you_ want to live it, and not the way that the shadow in the back of your mind wants you to live. You. Are. Incredible. An incredible human being with thoughts and feelings that deserve to be known. You've got this, and everyone is here for you. I hope you have a good rest of your day/night and if you don't, then maybe get your favourite book/video game/movie/TV show/music at the ready, get a cosy blanket, your favourite comfort food, and just lose yourself in that moment. You deserve it. You deserve to have your 'me time' and to just relax for a few hours, or the whole entire day, or a week, or two, it doesn't matter how long for. If you need a break, take it. Just, after that break is done, get back up on your feet and punch your depression/anxiety/whatever you are having trouble with at that moment right in its face and carry on being the awesome person that you are. You are a beautiful person, with a beautiful soul, and I love you. As the amazing Jared Padalecki says, always keep fighting. **

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**Hello there, you wonderful people you! :D I just wanted to say that I have re-written this chapter along with the next two. I'm happier with how I wrote them this time around so... yeah! :) There are a few changes I've made, but not anything drastic so you don't have to read them if you don't want to.**

 **To new readers: first of all, hi! :D Secondly, I hope you enjoy this fic, (If you don't that's obviously okay as well) and thank you so much for giving this a read! I really appreciate it! :)**

 **Okay, on with the fic! :D**

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 _The sixteenth of July 2014 wasn't an important date for the sisters by any means, but it was a day that was filled with good memories nevertheless. They had the day off from helping Hazel and Leah, so they were free to do whatever they wanted. That meant getting up later than usual, eating more candy than usual, and generally having more fun than usual._

 _The sudden sound of muffled laughter could be heard in the Sugar &Spice cafe, and the two owners shook their heads with fond smiles on their faces, chuckling softly at the sister's antics. As a few customers did the same, others grumbled into their coffee cups._

 _Meanwhile, in the apartment above, the sisters were mid-war with each other. The younger of the two held a Nerf gun in her hands, as she exclaimed in their living room, "You'll never catch me, copper! Dead or alive!" The grin that adorned her face widened and her eyes held a sense of challenge in the direction of her sibling._

 _The older sister smirked as she focused on her target. "Oh, yeah? We'll see about that." She aimed her own toy gun more accurately and pulled the trigger. The shot missed, however, as a blur of curly hair ducked behind the couch. Skylar heard her sister chuckling from her hiding spot and pouted._

 _Sasha quickly cleared her throat before falling back into character. "Aha! I'm too fast for you, Miss Sky!" she yelled in an amusing, cowboy-esque, voice. It made Skylar roll her eyes as a hint of a smile played on her lips, but it soon dropped as Sasha jumped up from her hiding spot and immediately fired._

 _This one hit its mark._

 _Skylar gasped in mock shock and made her voice sound croaky as she said her 'final' words, "Fuck... You've... You've shot me! Shit... Oh, crap... Bleh_ _…" She dramatically fell to her knees, before she 'collapsed' backwards, her tongue rolling out of her mouth to the side and her eyes sliding shut as she hit the living room floor._

 _She heard a deep sigh from somewhere above her and tried to hide a growing smile. "She died doing what she loved... swearing profusely," Sasha said in a sarcastic tone, while she too tried to hide a smile._

 _Holding back a snort, Skylar peeked an eye open to see Sasha standing next to her, with her head bowed and her eyes closed. "I'm back, bitches!" Skylar exclaimed, a wide grin on her face as she quickly sat up._

 _Sasha didn't even have a second to think as Skylar playfully tackled her down to the ground._ _"Oh, shit!"_

 _The two sisters laughed in unison as they sat up, but Sasha stopped when she felt something small hit her side and looked down to see a foam dart. Her head swivelled to her sister in shock, who was now standing with one of the Nerf guns in her hands. "That was for taking the last cookie the other day," she said with utmost seriousness in her voice._

 _They both slowly gave each other grins that matched, before they erupted into laughter once more._

* * *

 **Monday, September 18th, 2017.** Skylar glanced at the calendar that hung on the wall of her kitchen, in her too big of an apartment. It _felt_ too big anyway. It felt airy. _Empty_. It felt devoided of... pretty much everything.

 _Two years. One month. Six days._ As she continued to count how many months, how many days, it was since her sister's death, the more pain she would put herself in... but she couldn't seem to stop. She could only count how long it had been since the crash.

After finishing her morning coffee and getting herself presentable for work, she headed downstairs to open up the cafe.

As she unlocked the front door, she noticed Hazel and Leah walking up the sidewalk hand in hand and opened the door for them, feeling the chill wind from outside rush past as she did. _Another awful day. Great._ She sighed deeply and watched as her breath left her mouth in a puff of cold air.

When Leah entered she gave Skylar a familiar grin, quickly followed by Hazel greeting her warmly, "Good morning, flower."

Skylar simply nodded, and they got to work.

The owners, and happily married couple, knew her since she was ten years old. After the sister's mother died, they were the only ones who could look after them. Over the years, they got to know a lot about Skylar. She'd been through a lot in the short span of her lifetime, and a lot of it wasn't so good. They knew that she wasn't coping the best with what she had been dealt, but unfortunately, they didn't know _just how badly_ those things affected her.

Hazel and Leah tried their best to help her, as they had always done. They were always willing to listen if she ever wanted to talk, but she never did. Hazel would bake her treats every now and then to try and lift her spirits up, which would only earn her the smallest of smiles and thank you's in return. Leah would suggest they play a game or two on her console, which she would quietly decline. They gave her extended sick days when she needed a break from everything. They suggested a number of various different things to help her. But they couldn't do much else about her inner, _metaphorical_ , demons.

Especially today… Today was the last straw for her.

"Jeez, with the weather today you'd think somebody had died."

Just an offhand comment. Something so simple. Something as _stupid_ as that made her break. A comment that made memories of the past flash by in her mind as tears started to gather up in her eyes. Something as small as that made her head whirl, and she almost dropped the empty plate in her hands.

It had been creeping up on her all week… A _constant_ thought in the back of her brain. And as soon as that comment was said, everything finally got too much for her to handle.

It was the push that had sent her over the edge.

She politely excused herself from the customer's table, as she could feel sweat begin to build up on her palms, quickly told Leah she was going on her break with a shaky voice, placed the plate and flung her apron on the counter, then made a break for it upstairs. She began to tremble, her heart rate went double time, and her throat tightened as she climbed the staircase. When she reached the bathroom she swung open the door, stepped inside, then shut and locked it behind her.

Leaning against the door, Skylar's eyelids slid shut as she let out a deep breath. She stayed that way for a long while, her breathing becoming more rapid as time went on. Tears fell down her cheeks the more she let herself think.

After a few moments, she slowly opened her eyes and took a couple of wobbly steps in front of her, towards the sink.

She looked at herself in the mirror and icy blue eyes stared back at her in distaste. Her face scrunched up in anger as her hand curled into a fist, and she punched the mirror with all the strength she could muster up. She didn't break the glass, but she definitely put a pretty big crack in it. Her hand hurt like hell, and her knuckles were bleeding slightly, but she didn't care.

Skylar shakily ran her _other_ hand through her short, teal dyed, hair as a hiccupped gasp left her lips, and more tears streaked down her face. _It was one bad comment. He didn't even mean it like that. It was one bad day. Just one bad day. Everybody has them. I can get through the rest of today. I can._ Those minute thoughts that came from the back of her brain, were unfortunately drowned out by all the, not at all positive, thoughts at the front of her mind.

At first, those thoughts began as whispers. Then those whispers became louder and grew in number until it was a deafening noise of suggestions, and thoughts that nobody should _ever_ have to think of themselves. She couldn't help it though. Everything that had happened over the years. Every terrible comment that was thrown her way. Even the little things that would fly over other people's heads. It all got too much and that shred of hope... that last fragile fragment of hope that she had been clinging on to, the part of her that still wanted to live, snapped and broke into millions of unmendable pieces.

She gripped the rim of the sink in front of her, to try and steady her hands, and tightly closed her eyes. She was falling apart at the seams and nobody could help her. _Nobody_ could see the pain she was going through at that moment. "God…" she exhaled, with gritted teeth, then quickly wiped her tears away. "I can't... I can't do this anymore…" she mumbled as her shoulders slumped in defeat.

A sudden sense of calm washed over her when she finally convinced herself, and she let out a sigh.

"One last time," she whispered to the empty room, as she hesitantly picked up the razor blade that laid between the faucets.

One. Last. Time.

Just a few long, vertical, deep cuts… and it would all be over. No more pain. No more hurting. No more…

She began to gingerly lift up the left sleeve of her flannel shirt, the blade digging into the palm of her hand as she did, but didn't even get it past her wrist as she... suddenly felt even more exhausted than she had been the past week or so.

Her eyes glazed over as the razor blade slipped through her fingers into the sink, and she collapsed on the bathroom floor.

* * *

As she regained consciousness, Skylar could feel sunlight beating down on her and the sensation of... _something_ flowing through and over her body. Whatever it was, it felt tingly. But a peaceful kind of tingly. If that made any sense.

She moved ever so slightly and, as she did, she could feel the ground underneath her. It wasn't the tiled floor she was expecting though. It was gravel. Very _uncomfortable_ gravel.

 _As if there was any other kind._

As she opened her eyes, she found that everything was blurry. _Really_ blurry. She blinked a few times to see clearer and, to her absolute confusion, saw the barrel of a shotgun pointed directly at her face. Her eyebrows slowly drew together and her mouth opened to speak, but her tongue stopped her from forming any words.

 _Uh... what? Why is there a gun... Wait, more importantly, where am I? What happened?_

Skylar closed her eyes and swallowed a lump in her throat as she heard a, surprisingly familiar, voice that she assumed belonged to whoever was holding the gun, "I wouldn't try anything. I don't know what you are, but you should know that I definitely don't take kindly to things that fall outta the sky, and into my backyard."

 _'Fall outta the sky,' I fell out of the... What?_

She opened her eyes once again and became even more confused at the person she saw behind the gun.

 _Jim Beaver?!_ She quickly sat up and stared at the man in shock. _Why is… Why am I…_ Her eyes latched onto another familiar face, that stood to the side, who also had a shotgun aimed at her. _Jensen Ackles? What the hell is going on?_

Her eyes fell back to Jim as she muttered anxiously, "Uh... What?"

The two men shared a quick glance at each other, before focusing their eyesight back on Skylar again.

Everything suddenly clicked in her brain at seeing the two dressed how they were. _Flannel: check. Grumpy, I'm-gonna-kill-you-if-you-make-any-sudden-movements, faces: check... Shotguns more than likely filled with rock salt: check._

She then remembered being in her bathroom and fainting.

 _So_ , she took a quick glance around to make sure what she was thinking was correct. _Old rusted up cars with a house a few feet away: check. Yep. I definitely fainted and I'm definitely dreaming._

"You mind giving us some intel into how you just fell out of the sky, and are still _breathing_ by the way, or are you just gonna keep on staring at us?" Dean asked pointedly, which made her come out of her little stupor.

"I, uh... Sorry, I just... I don't know how I.. _fell_." She cleared her throat and took a peek up at the sky, which looked very realistic for a dream. A few fluffy clouds scattered about in the blueness of it all. Then again, _everything_ seemed realistic to her from where she was sitting. She figured her brain wanted to do something nice for a change. _Am I lucid dreaming? Is this what it's like? Never happened to me before..._ "You sure I fell from up there? Not, you know, from a tree or something?" _Even though that wouldn't make any sense either... then again... dream._

They both rose a brow at her as Bobby said, "Definitely sure, considering we saw you fall and all."

She slowly nodded as she continued to glance around the place wondering where this dream was going. She was going to play along. It was definitely better than her nightmares, so she was going to take every second of it.

On the other hand, the two hunters looked unsure of her and the situation. They were used to shooting first and asking questions later, usually because the monster would attack them first, not a person falling from the sky unconscious, then said person waking up and looking as confused as they were. "You mind telling us what you are? Or are we gonna have to figure that out for ourselves?" Dean questioned, wanting answers.

She spun her head back at them from looking at a tree in the distance and glanced at the guns still pointed at her, as she calmly said, "I'm human. You don't need those for me."

Dean simply tightened his hold on his weapon. "Well, I think it's better to be safe than sorry." He gave her a condescending smirk, one that he usually gave to monsters, but she waved it off. She could understand his hesitation in the matter.

"Fair enough, I guess." She went back to glancing around as she muttered, "This is a _weird_ dream."

"Dream?" Dean let out a quiet laugh, briefly glancing over at Bobby with a raised brow. "No, this is reality, kid… Pretty damn sure."

She let out a small chuckle of her own. "Yeah, right. Of course." Her eyes rolled as she shook her head. "Dean Winchester and Bobby Singer. Definitely not a dream."

"How the hell do you know our names?" Bobby questioned, frowning as his brows knitted together.

Skylar tilted her head. "Uh..." _Dreams_ _don't usually ask questions like that. They usually gloss over facts... Like,_ all _facts._ An idea suddenly popped up in her mind... and it was a ridiculous one. But she was going to test it anyway.

She pinched her arm harshly and sucked in a breath at the pain. _Okay… Ow._

"I, uh…" Her confusion skyrocketed as the two hunters each rose a brow in curiosity. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you, and I'm... and I'm pretty sure _I_ don't even believe what's going on right now."

"Mhmm. Well, we've heard a lot of weird. So spill."

Skylar nervously glanced at the guns that were still pointed at her, from where she sat on the ground in Bobby Singer's scrap yard, then back up to their faces. She really hoped they were filled with rock salt. Even though she was going to do what she was going to do a few moments prior to... this... she didn't want to go out by a gun. "Okay… TV. There's a TV show where you guys are characters."

There was a pause before Dean started to chuckle incredulously.

She took a guess that he didn't believe her.

"Yeah, told you, you wouldn't." Her eyes drifted down to the guns again, and Bobby noticed her unease toward them.

He put it by his side and relaxed his demeanour, which quickly drew Dean's attention. "Wha… Bobby?! What if she has something to do with…" he trailed off, glancing at the teen on the ground with cautious eyes before looking back up his father figure. "You know…"

"Dean, she's harmless. Trust me, I can tell." Dean simply rolled his eyes as Bobby faced Skylar with a pointed look. "Anyway, you wouldn't do anything stupid that would get you killed, right?" She adamantly shook her head, and he nodded then gave Dean a 'Told you so' kind of face.

Her eyebrows knitted together as she glanced between them. Everything seemed so real. _Too_ real. _Way_ too real for a dream. The gravel under her fingers. The faint breeze in the air as it passed by her face. The smell of gas and oil. Dean's freckles that were dusted along his nose and cheeks... She could probably even count how many hairs Bobby had in his beard. It was weird. Definitely one of the weirdest moments in her life. Dream or not.

"We're still gonna test her though," he said to Dean before looking back over at her. "Come on, get up." He didn't wait for her to reply as he turned on his heel and headed for his house.

"Uh, yeah, okay…" She did as he said, wobbling slightly in the process, and noticed Dean staring at her cautiously. She gave him a small, nervous smile before following after Bobby.

Skylar glanced at all the damaged cars surrounding them as she walked, and smiled faintly, before her eyebrows furrowed again. _This can't be real. It's not possible._

As they entered the house, she hesitantly glanced around and followed the older hunter into the kitchen. Bobby placed his gun on the table and got a couple of items ready, as Dean stood in the doorway, gun still in his hands, on guard. He glanced at her over his shoulder as he said, "If this 'TV show' is real I suppose you know what I'm doing."

She could practically feel Dean roll his eyes behind her as she nodded. "Yeah… Holy water and silver knife, right? Tests to see if I'm a monster or not."

Bobby turned to face her with a hint of a smile on his face. "Well, if you know that you're either telling the truth or you are one. Lift your sleeve."

She stilled for a split second, something she desperately hoped neither of them noticed, before she lifted her right-hand sleeve. The arm that _didn't_ have any marks on. Apart from a few freckles and one other type of mark anyway.

"Huh... Nice tattoo," Dean muttered under his breath absentmindedly. The tattoo was a heart with wings, and it was about an inch away from her wrist. No colour, just black ink.

She put her arm out to Bobby and he cut a small line at the top of her forearm with a silver knife. When she didn't react to it, apart from a small wince, he nodded. "Okay. Drink this." He passed her a shot glass filled with holy water, and she quickly swallowed it. Once again, nothing happened.

From the corner of her eye, she could see Dean's shoulders relax a little. He still kept a defensive and cautious stance though.

"Hmm, well, looks like you passed the tests. What's your name?" Bobby asked, as she passed him back the shot glass and rolled down her sleeve.

"Skylar." She paused and rose an eyebrow at herself. "Huh, kinda ironic, I… I guess."

He let out a soft snort. "Skylar… How the hell did you manage falling out of the sky, and surviving?"

"I have no idea," she said plainly. She heard Dean huff and mumble something under his breath, but she ignored him. "I was in my apartment… next thing I know, I faint out of nowhere and I'm in your scrap yard." She looked Bobby in the eyes, hoping he saw the truth in them.

Which he did. He studied her face for a second longer, noticing something else that he couldn't quite place, before he shrugged contently. "Hmm. Okay." He leaned against the table and crossed one ankle over the other. Most of the caution from his own eyes was gone, but Dean looked at him incredulously.

"You can't seriously believe that, Bobby."

"Well, she's human, we know that for a fact. And it ain't like she's tried to kill us so far," he stated, as Skylar continued to contemplate how this dream could be so vivid.

She even felt the water slide down her throat. _Not possible. It's just not possible..._

Dean stared at him for a moment before he glanced at her. He could tell she wasn't a threat just by the way she stood; her shoulders were hunched, and it was like she was trying to take as little space as possible. But he knew _something_ was up. People didn't just fall out of the sky in a big, bright, ball of light.

He looked back at Bobby as he said, "Okay, what about us then, huh? A TV show? _Really_? I mean, I know I've been gone for four months-" She lifted her head at that. "-but I'm pretty sure there's not a TV show about us."

 _Four months? So… is this when Dean came back from Hell?_ She felt her stomach turn as she thought about it.

Bobby turned to face her again with a thoughtful look. "Well?"

She looked at him, and softly cleared her throat after wavering on the word she was trying to say, "W-What?"

"Prove it," he stated simply.

She stared at him, a little dumbfounded for a moment. "Uh, okay…" _This is so weird._ "Bobby Singer, Dean Winchester…" She glanced at each of them in turn before focusing on Dean. She felt like he trusted her the least between the two. "You've got a brother called Sam. Your parent's name's are Mary Campbell and John Winchester."

He rose a brow but looked unperturbed.

 _Yeah, that is pretty basic info._

"You said you've been gone for four months, right? So… that means you've recently come back from Hell?" His eye twitched and his jaw tightened, so she heavily backtracked with an apologetic expression. "Sorry… Um, 'cause Sam isn't here, I'm guessing you haven't met up with him yet… Um…" She paused and looked to the side, thinking of what to say. Even if it was a dream, she didn't want to remind him of all the crap they had thrown at them in the past. She bit her lip in thought, trying to remember what happened at the beginning of the 'episode'. It had been a couple of years since she last saw the show, after all. "When… When you got out, there was a, uh, a gas station… and the radio and TV turned on, and the windows kind of-" She cringed slightly. "-exploded… by themselves." _Which was Cas saying, 'hi.'_

He continued to stare at her with a brow raised. "And?"

She paused again. Thinking hard about what she could possibly say to make him believe her when…

Skylar gave him a cheeky grin. "Rhonda Hurley."

His eyes widened, almost comically, and he hastily cleared his throat, as Bobby gave him a weird look. "You… How… Hm…" With a small tilt of his head to hide his face, he quickly moved to put his gun on the table, as Skylar wore a shit-eating grin. When he turned back to face her, he pointed a finger at her. "Okay… Say, I believe you, _which_ I don't…"

"Yeah, you do," she said, holding back a laugh at his face and the whole general situation that she found herself in.

There was a pause as he kind of just stood there for a little bit, looking all kinds of awkward, and Bobby rose an amused brow at his behaviour.

Dean cleared his throat again and put his hand down, then rested against the table like Bobby, but with his arms crossed. "You could just be psychic or something."

"What number am I thinking of?" the older hunter suddenly asked, a tinge of amusement in his voice.

"Come on, Bobby," Dean huffed.

"You suggested it." With his eyebrow still raised, he gave him a small smirk. "Pretty sure she's not anyway considering she knows about 'Rhonda Hurley', whoever that is." Skylar let out a chuckle as Dean blanched; and after Skylar quietened down at Dean's death stare, he continued, "Come on, what number?"

She let out a breath and calmly stated, "I'm not psychic. Trust me, if I was…" she trailed off as her thoughts decided to go to a different place. She stopped herself by shaking her head and coughing a little to the side, raising a hand to her mouth as she did, not noticing the two share a look. "Whatever, uh, I don't know… Three?" she guessed, not really trying, and smiled awkwardly at them.

"Nope. Seventy-nine."

 _Nailed it…_ she thought sarcastically as she dropped her gaze. "See, not psychic… I just-" she stopped as soon as she started, and tried to think of what to say. "Apparently, if this _isn't_ some crazy-ass dream, which I am _kinda_ doubting a little considering I definitely felt that knife… Uh, I'm… I dunno, from a different universe or some shit?" That sounded crazy even to her own ears. She shook her head again, not looking at the hunters as she tried to work it all out in her head. "All I know is the show is focused on your lives and a lot of… a lot of crazy stuff happens."

"Okay then, quiz time." Skylar furrowed her brows as she glanced at Bobby. He simply rose one and said, "You said that it was focused on our lives, that would mean you know a little something about hunting, yeah?"

She slowly nodded. _I guess._

"How do you kill a vampire?"

"Beheading them," she said without even realising, before she continued, "and you can… and you can poison them with dead man's blood, but that wouldn't be enough to kill 'em." She fidgeted a little under their gazes, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.

"Shapeshifter?" Bobby quickly fired at her.

"Silver bullet to the heart." She glanced at Dean, remembering the episode 'Skin' from season 1 where Sam had said the exact same words in a similar way. He rose an eyebrow, and she swore she saw his lips quirk up for a second.

"Ghost?"

"Burn their remains, or if they were cremated, burn the object their spirit is connected to."

"How about a demon?" Dean suddenly questioned, with a slight edge to his voice.

She stared at him for a second, not sure where his head was at, before she said, "Uh, you exorcise them back to Hell… or you could stab them with Ruby's knife, or shoot them with the Colt." Her lips twitched upwards when he looked stunned. _One point to me, Winchester._ "Or-" A sudden rush of pain stopped her from talking further and had her grab her head in agony with one hand, while the other grabbed the counter behind her.

A voice ran through her mind. It was a familiar voice, but it was echoed and had a… powerful energy to it. _"Skylar. I'm sorry for the pain, but I have to tell you this; you can't tell them anything involving their future. Angels included, and yeah… This is real. Different universe. Different time. You're here for a reason, Sky."_ The voice stopped and, as it did, the pain started to dull down.

She blinked open her eyes to see Bobby standing in front of her with concern etched into his features. "You alright, Skylar?"

She stared at him blankly for a moment before she blinked a couple more times. "Wha…? Uh, yeah. Yeah, just… peachy…" she said dismissively as her eyes flickered around the room to ground herself.

"What was that?" Dean asked, also looking a bit concerned.

She cleared her throat and said, "Uh… headache… a bad, _bad_ headache…" _And the voice of one Chuck Shurley, but I'm just gonna leave that out in case he does that again… Wait, how_ did _he even do that? He's a prophet…_ Her eyebrows knitted together as the pain disappeared completely, and then his words sunk in. "Oh, God… this _is_ real, isn't it? I feel like my brain just did a full three-sixty on itself." She let go of the counter but kept the hand that was on her head where it was for a moment longer.

"Never heard of a headache like that before," Dean said cautiously, glancing at Bobby with a meaningful look, who simply shrugged.

"Never thought I'd ever be in a different universe, but here I am," she said with utmost sass in her tone, as her arms flopped down at her sides, then winced when a short blast of mild pain shot through her brain. "Ow," she muttered, as she rubbed her forehead with a small frown.

Dean looked her up and down, not liking the situation at hand at all. "Yeah… Well, I gotta go see my brother. Bobby-"

"What? You think I'm gonna stay here and babysit?" he interrupted.

Skylar rolled her eyes. _I've looked after myself and my sister for practically my entire life. I don't need to be babysat thank you very much._

"I still need to kick his ass for leaving." Bobby crossed his arms defiantly, and Dean sighed frustratedly.

"I-" she started to speak, but was cut off by Dean, who had a tight smile on his face.

"Well then, looks like you're coming with us, kid. We are not leaving you on your own. Even if I'm still not buying the whole…-" He waved a hand about, thinking about how to put it. "-alternate universe thing, there's still _something_ going on here."

"Sure, I…" She sighed. "I guess." It's not like she had another option. Being in a different universe meant she didn't have anywhere to go anyway. "And, dude… I'm nineteen."

He rose an eyebrow at her before he scoffed lightly. "Yeah, like I said. Kid."

"Sure..." She rolled her eyes as she tried to think of a comeback. "Old man." She cringed slightly but her eyes held amusement.

His own had a hint of amusement to them, as he said, "I'm twenty-nine, okay?"

Skylar gave him a sly smirk. "Yeah, like I said. Old." She didn't _really_ think being twenty-nine was old, not by a long shot, but it was worth to say at the offended look he gave her.

She had missed bantering.

Bobby chuckled, then said, "Alright, we can continue this on the road. I'm gonna go get the car ready. I'm sure you two can play nicely 'till I get back?"

Dean rolled his eyes and Skylar smiled at him. A genuine smile. It faded slightly as she realised, so she focused her sight on her combat boots. She hadn't smiled a proper smile, that she fully meant, ever since… well, she didn't want to think about him.

Bobby grabbed the shotguns off of the table and made his way out, which left the two older siblings of each of their families by themselves. They stood there for a couple of minutes in silence, just thinking to themselves and processing the situation, until Dean was the first to break the awkwardness in the air, "So, Skylar…" She glanced up at him when he paused and noticed the confliction written on his face. "How… How _much_ do you know?"

"Probably enough that you're not comfortable with…" She winced as she realised that knowing a lot about their personal lives must be weird, to say the least. "Sorry about that. To be fair though… I mean…" She stopped talking as she tried to think of how to say what she wanted to say. It was a sticky situation given what they had been through… _and what they will go through…_ "It _is_ just a TV show in… in my world, and I know that doesn't make it better, but… I don't know, man. I know a lot about you guys and-" She winced again at how that sounded. "-and that sounded, even more, creepier than I thought it would…" her voice raised an octave higher in embarrassment, and he rose an eyebrow in a 'you think?' kind of way. "But that doesn't make me an enemy or anything, okay? I don't know why I'm here. I seriously don't. But… hopefully, there is a way back to… my 'home universe'... and I'll be out of your guys' hair in no time." She smiled at him, but as it started to crack she looked away. _They got back to their universe when Balthazar made them... well, will make them go to another one… maybe it's similar to that?_

"Okay... I think I might actually be starting to believe all this."

She smiled then figured she should clear something up. "Oh! And about Rhonda..." He began to frown but she continued, "We never _saw_ anything. It was just talked about."

He nodded, and sarcastically said, "Well, I can't wait for that conversation."

She chuckled slightly, "Hey, I'm not gonna kink shame you, man."

"I- You know what, I'm not gonna go there." His lips twitched upwards, then there was a pause in the conversation, and Skylar didn't miss how he seemed to get a little nervous. "Okay, so, uh, earlier on… You said that I've just come back... from down under…" He gave her a look as if to say, 'Do you know or not, 'cause I'm not saying it out loud.'

She gave him a sad smile. "Yeah… I know." He cleared his throat, looking anywhere but her as he pursed his lips. She frowned and said, "Dean, I know… I know that this isn't gonna mean… probably anything, coming from a total stranger and given what you've gone through… but it wasn't your fault." He gave her a disbelieving look, but it didn't faze her. "I know that you don't want to talk about it, and I'm definitely not asking you to… but you've just got to know that it _wasn't_ your fault. Not _one_ bit of it."

He saw the truth in her eyes. He just couldn't fathom how she thought what happened, and what he did, in Hell wasn't his fault.

That was something they both had in common though. They both blamed themselves. For everything.

She wished she could tell _herself_ what she told Dean. But she knew that what happened back home _was_ her fault.

He looked like he was going to reply, but Bobby chose the right moment to come through the door. "Right, we all set?" he called out as Dean quickly looked away from Skylar. He entered the kitchen just as Dean pushed himself away from the table, and headed to go outside.

"Yeah. Let's go," Dean said quickly as he passed Bobby.

Bobby rose a brow at him then glanced at Skylar, who gave him a small smile with a shrug of her shoulders. "Okay then. Come on, Skylar." He motioned her to follow him, and they exited the house. When they reached the car, she stilled. After Bobby and Dean had both entered the car and realised Skylar hadn't, Bobby rolled down his window to say, "You getting in?"

She snapped out of another little stupor and apologised, "Yeah, sorry. It's just…" She hesitated before she reached for the door handle to the back seat, and quickly got inside. "It's just been a couple years since I've ridden in a car, that's all." She gave them another small smile, before she glanced around the interior, trying not to look so nervous. They looked at her quizzically, but she pretended not to notice as she stared out the window and buckled up, hoping desperately that it would get the attention off of herself.

Bobby shrugged and mumbled out an, 'okay,' before he started up the car, quiet tunes coming from the radio as he did, and began to drive out of the scrap yard.

Skylar let out a shallow breath. It wasn't the first time she had been in a car since the incident, but it was the first time she had been in a moving one. Back home she helped customers out if they ever had any car trouble. She was practically their mechanic.

Skylar focused on the sights going past to calm herself, as she thought about what Chuck had said to her. _'Different universe. Different time. You're here for a reason, Sky.'_ She scoffed internally. _What reason could there possibly be for dragging my sorry ass here?_

The more she thought about it all, the less she understood.

She sighed through her nose, before she furrowed her eyebrows quizzically. "Hey, it's September eighteenth, right?" she asked cautiously, as she looked at the two hunters out the corner of her eye.

"Yeah," Bobby answered, not thinking much of it.

She slowly nodded and waited a moment. "...2008?"

"Well, yeah," Dean answered this time, a little confused as to why she would ask the year.

"Wow, that's weird…" she let out in a breath. They both rose an eyebrow at that and Dean turned to face her, as Bobby glanced at her in the rearview mirror. She spoke so quietly that they almost didn't hear her, "Not only am I in a different universe… I'm nine years in the past."

There was a pause before...

"Wait, what?" Dean asked, incredulously.

She took a glance at him and smiled awkwardly. "Yeah. I'm from 2017, dude." Dean continued to stare at her, obviously flabbergasted, while Bobby had the common sense to stay focused on the road. There was another pause before she said what they were all thinking, "This is so weird."

Bobby chuckled. "Yeah, well, welcome to our lives… Hmm. Quite literally, I guess."

Skylar snorted, but quickly slapped a hand over her mouth and nose after she did, and slid down in her seat as if it would hide her embarrassment.

Dean rose a brow, with a small grin plastered on his face, before he turned back to face the front as Bobby chuckled quietly to himself.

A few moments later, Bobby was tapping his fingers on the steering wheel to the beat of the music and said, "So, tell us about yourself."

She looked away from the window to give him a questioning expression that he didn't see. "Huh? Why?"

"We've got a good nine-hour drive on our hands. I'd rather not spend it all in complete silence. Anyway, we gotta know what the future's like, right?" he said, amusement evident in his voice.

"Uh… I… I don't think that's a good idea… for... multiple reasons." _One, I don't want another 'headache'. Two, the future is a mess. Three, it could cause a paradox or some shit. Four, I don't want another 'headache'. Five, what the hecky heck would I even say? Six, it's the future in a different universe, things could be completely different here. Seven, did I mention not wanting another 'headache_ ' _?_ "And anyway, there's not exactly that much to talk about, you know?"

Dean glanced back at her and rose a brow. "Really? Nine years, and you can't think of a single thing?"

"Well, yeah, but I mean, our universes are different from each other anyway, and… and I don't just mean the TV show. We don't have monsters or demons there… at least to my knowledge anyway. No one's exactly proved for _definite_ that there's a Heaven, or Hell, or any other sort of afterlife situation, so… yeah, I don't know," she said dismissively.

She, herself, didn't believe in the supernatural and didn't have faith in any particular religion back home, but Sasha always did. Her sister believed that there had to be _something_ after people died. _Something_ that helped people when they were down on their luck. Skylar, on the other hand, believed in people above all else. She did believe that there was a _possibility_ that there was something else in that respect, but she didn't put all of her apples in one basket so to speak. She couldn't believe, but she definitely had respect for people who did.

"Okay then, what about you?"

She was quiet for a moment before she spoke, "I… I don't know. Not much to say about me." She stared out the window again, silently hoping Bobby would drop it.

"What's your full name?" he asked, trying to get her engaged in a conversation.

She let out a small laugh. "What is this, twenty questions?"

He glanced back at her in the rearview mirror and smiled. "Sure."

She simply shook her head in amusement. "Okay then… Skylar Romana Raineri."

"Thought I could hear a bit of Italian in that accent of yours," he said, slightly proud of himself for noticing, as Dean stared out the window, half-listening to their conversation.

She chuckled lightly, her nose wrinkling up as she did. "Yeah, got it from my mom."

Skylar also got her natural dark hair from her mom, but she got her blue eyes from her dad. Her genetics were equally split between them, but Sasha looked more like their mom. She still had dark hair but, unlike Sky, her hair was curly and long; and her eyes were a deep brown, almost golden when the sunlight hit them in a particular way.

"Any siblings?"

She cleared her throat softly as she rubbed the top of her arm, and willed herself to stay grounded. She hardly talked about Sasha. Only once or twice to Hazel and Leah. And- "Uh… yeah. I've got a sister."

Dean perked up and glanced at her over his shoulder. "How old's she?" he asked curiously.

"Seventeen," she said after a moment. _She would've been anyway…_

Bobby continued the little question session, "What state you come from?"

"Ohio. Lived in Cincinnati my whole life," she answered with a small, thankful, smile on her face for the change of subject.

"You got a job?"

She nodded. "Yep, work in a cafe that's below our apartment."

"Our?" Dean questioned, raising a curious brow at her.

Skylar froze. "Yeah. Well…" She fixed her gaze to the sights outside again as she realised her slip of the tongue. "It's just my apartment now, but… My sister used to live with me… she moved out recently. University. She's a smart cookie," she lied easily, not looking at either of them. She knew it wasn't healthy, but she decided to speak about her as if she was still alive. _Just as long as I'm here… It won't hurt..._

"Hmm," Dean hummed as he looked ahead again. She wasn't sure if he believed her or not, but she didn't think about it for long.

She suddenly looked down at her hand as she felt… something. It went away as soon as she looked, and her face twisted in confusion. It felt vaguely similar to the energy that she felt after she fell, and in the house... but _completely_ different at the same time. She flexed her hand, before she dismissed it with a slight shake of her head.

After a couple more questions about the cafe and if she was in school or not, (the answer to the second question being no, not since she was 16) her eyelids started to droop.

She was tired. Not just because she hardly got any sleep the night before, as per usual, but she was just plain exhausted mentally. With what happened in the cafe and her apartment, then everything that happened after… She was surprised she hadn't fainted yet... In the universe she was currently in anyway. Another thing that surprised her was that she felt _safe_. She hardly ever felt safe.

She wanted to sleep. She _needed_ to sleep. On the other hand, she didn't want to sleep, in fear of the nightmares that would ultimately plague her mind.

She tried to stifle a yawn, but failed.

"What time was it for you, before you… got zapped here, anyway?" Bobby asked, obviously noticing she was tired.

She thought for a moment. "Uh, I dunno. About… five-ish? It was almost closing time… I think."

"About a couple hours earlier than here then," Dean muttered to himself, still wondering how she got there and why.

"Well, you look like you could use a nap. Get some rest, Skylar. If you're not up before we get there, we'll wake you," Bobby said, briefly meeting her eyes in the mirror with a kind smile.

She hesitated before she replied, "Okay. Sure."

She sighed as she rested herself against the door, and closed her eyes. She tried to stay awake for as long as she could, willing herself to just rest her eyes, and begging her mind to keep the nightmares away, but she slowly drifted off into a slumber.

Unfortunately, her mind was not so kind.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading, lovelies! Reviews are always appreciated! :D**


	2. Nightmares, a cheeseburger, and an angel

**Hey, I hope you're doing okay. :)**

 **Reviews are always appreciated! :D**

* * *

 **10:32 PM. On a highway, someplace between South Dakota and Illinois.**

"So, what do you make of her?" Dean asked as he stared out the window.

Bobby gently sighed through his nose as he contemplated for a moment. "I think she's scared, and there are a few things she ain't telling us, but… I got no clue. I think she's telling the truth though, 'bout the whole 'different universe' thing." He still couldn't understand how and why she fell in the first place... and that light… In all of his years of hunting, he had never seen anything like that before.

Dean nodded and there was a small pause before he spoke, "What do we do? I mean, we can't exactly let her… tag along."

Bobby sighed once more and looked like he was at a loss. "We'll find out something. Get her back to her universe or wherever," he said positively. "After we've picked up Sam and figured out what happened with you, I'm gonna try and find someone or a book that has some info about it. See if anything like this has happened before." He saw Dean nod again, slower this time, from the corner of his eye before he smiled. "Right now we should just keep an eye on her and see if we can get any more information."

Dean was about to ask something else, but stopped when he heard a small noise behind him. He peered over the seat to see Skylar curled in on herself, with her face scrunched up in anguish. "No… No. Sasha…"

He rose a brow then looked at Bobby. "Who do you think Sasha is?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," he said as he shrugged, both hands still firmly on the wheel. "Maybe her sister she was on about earlier? Or a friend?"

Dean hummed and glanced back at Skylar. "Well, whoever they are… it doesn't exactly seem like she's dreaming happy thoughts about 'em."

Bobby made a noise of agreement as he observed her through the rearview mirror.

"Sasha…"

* * *

 _ **Wednesday, August 12th, 2015. 6:14 PM. Cincinnati, Ohio.**_

 _The two sisters stood in their local library. One leaned against the side of a bookcase with her arms crossed, glancing around the place in boredom, waiting for the other to choose a book. "Sasha, hurry up, would you? I wanna get back home," Skylar whispered, as Sasha continued to peruse the books with a thoughtful expression._

" _Yeah, yeah," she whispered back. "A couple more minutes… I just want to be sure." Skylar hummed as she rested her head against the bookcase, and closed her eyes as she waited._

 _Sasha had always loved books. Loved the worlds and characters that people created. She even wrote a little herself. Reading let her escape to another place for a little while. No matter what genre it was… Fantasy. Sci-fi. Horror. Crime. She loved it all. She even imagined herself as a character sometimes, off on adventures in a strange new world. It helped her escape from the reality around her._

 _She eventually chose one and gave her sister a cheeky grin. Skylar simply rolled her eyes with a smile as they headed over to the librarian, so he could process it and they could leave._

" _Hey, do you mind if we walk home?" Sasha asked as they left the building and sat on a bench nearby. As she patiently waited for an answer, she placed the book in her bright white and teal coloured backpack._

 _Skylar sighed dejectedly, ran a hand through her hair as she thought, then gave her sister a sorrowful look. "I would, kid, but my legs are killing me."_

 _Sasha gently shook her head as she put her backpack back on her shoulders._ " _It's fine, Sky. I know the feeling." She gave Skylar another grin and nudged her side playfully._

 _They had been run off their feet at the cafe recently, as the only other two employees, Liam and Alex, had phoned in sick back to back. That meant the sisters had to work overtime and it was taking a toll on the two. It had gotten busier as of late, which was unusual but not unwelcome… to Hazel and Leah anyway._

 _Skylar let out a groan and said, "I swear if I see one more frickin' fudge sundae…" She gestured her hands as if she was throttling somebody, as she tried her best to look threatening, which just made Sasha chuckle._

" _You're gonna strangle the sundae?" she asked in a humorous tone. Skylar simply gave her a bitchface as she let her hands fall into her lap. "Or do you mean the customer? Or Hazel or Leah? Because, number one: You can't strangle a sundae, I've tried." There was a hint of disappointment in the last few words as she raised an eyebrow. Skylar snorted and shook her head fondly, before Sasha continued, "Number two: I'm pretty sure the cops would be after you if you strangled any one of those people." She grinned as Skylar rolled her eyes._

" _Yeah, yeah, smart-ass. Keep talking." She grinned back at her, but it faded as she turned her head. She felt as if someone was watching them, but she couldn't see anyone in the vicinity looking anywhere near them, so she shrugged the feeling off. She put it down to her paranoia._

 _Sasha snickered, which brought Skylar's attention back to her sister. "Okay, well, do you mind if we start Supernatural over again when we get back?" she inquired innocently. "You know, being the tenth season finished a few months ago, and-"_

 _She got cut off by Skylar who simply said, "Sash, you never have to convince me to watch that show. Ev-er." She smiled brightly and reached into her front jean pocket to retrieve her phone._

 _Observing her necklace, Sasha smiled as she spoke, "I know, I know. You love it just as much as I do."_

 _Skylar chuckled lightly. "You got that right. Let me just call a cab, okay?" Sasha nodded as Skylar began to look for the number in her contacts, but as she did a shiver travelled down her spine. She paused her search, but swiftly shrugged it off. There_ was _a faint, chill, wind in the air. She figured it was likely down to that._

 _Sasha looked off to the side for a moment before her face suddenly lit up at a thought. "Ooh! Can we get takeout tonight?" She stared at her sister, puppy dog eyes in full gear, but Skylar resisted them._

" _Sasha-" she started to warn her, knowing fully well that they had had takeout for the past couple of days as it was._

" _Please, Sky? I have a_ serious _need for a chow mein right now." She continued to look at her with big eyes and Skylar couldn't help but give in._

 _She sighed and rolled her own eyes in sarcastic defeat. "Okay."_

" _Yes!" Sasha punched her fist in the air triumphantly, before Skylar swiftly interrupted her victory._

" _But… for the rest of the week, it's home cooked, healthy-ish, meals alright?" She was half expecting a grumbled 'fine', but Sasha just grinned._

" _Yeah, I promise... Hey, I'll even help you out!"_

 _Skylar smiled and ruffled Sasha's hair. "Thanks, Sash_ _." She poked her tongue out at her, which Sasha returned, before she called for a cab._

 _After a short wait, they hopped into the back seats of the cab; Sasha on the driver's side, and Skylar on the passenger's side._

 _Just before they were about to cross an intersection, Sasha had her usual grin plastered on her face as she excitedly said, "Oh, I can't wait for that chow mein, Sky. It's gonna taste so good. Li's is the best! Except for Hazel's, obviously."_

 _Skylar glanced at her before she stared out the window with a small smile of her own. "Afterwards we can get some cherry pie if you wa-" A sudden jolt had her cut off her own sentence._

 _Her body slammed against the car door._

 _And she blacked out._

 _She slowly woke up to hear people screaming, shouting, the horn constantly blaring, and the faint sound of sirens in the distance… though it was like she was hearing everything underwater. Her eyesight was hazy as she just about managed to open her eyes, to see the cab driver draped over the steering wheel. Red…? No._ Blood. Blood _was_ _dripping down his face. She didn't know if he was alive or not, but she did know that he definitely wasn't okay if he was._

 _Everything was so fuzzy. Nothing felt real in that moment._

 _She felt a heavy pressure on her left arm, and her right was trapped between the door and her own body. She absentmindedly whispered her sister's name as she turned her head slightly, but stopped as a rush of pain tore its way through her right shoulder. She let out a pained groan and stayed perfectly still for a moment... just breathing heavily... adjusting to the pain she felt and the situation they were in._

 _Sasha._

 _Sasha's head was laying on her other shoulder._

 _She needed to know if she was okay._

 _She repeated herself, more coherent and so Sasha would be able to hear her this time, but she didn't respond. "Sasha. Sasha!" Still no response. "No… no." She ignored the pain that flared up as she managed to pull her arm out from where it was trapped, with gritted teeth, and moved her hand to cup her sister's cheek. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no." She moved Sasha and herself gingerly, so they were both sat up properly, but tried not to move her too much in case it would damage her further._

 _She noticed the blood running down her sister's temple and quickly tried to check for a pulse on her neck. She_ did _feel a pulse, but she also knew that the brain was a tricky thing and that in most cases… when you feel like you can feel a pulse on somebody in a dire situation… it's usually the opposite and it's just your brain telling you that you can, or you just feel your own. It wants to give you hope._

 _False hope._

 _She begged to anything and everything that it wasn't that._

 _Tears fell down her face. She started shaking. And her breathing came out in broken sobs as she panicked. She called her sister's name a few more times, but Sasha still didn't respond._

 _Skylar let out a gut-wrenching scream as she held her sister close to her, and cried into her hair._

" _No… Don't… Don't you dare… Please, Sasha..." Her voice cracked and wavered as she tried to speak through the tears, "Wake up, Sasha. Please, just… just wake up. You… You have to wake up..." She tightly shut her eyes and did something she never thought she'd ever do. "God… Please… If you're out there and if… and if you're real… please, just… just let her be okay… please… I-I… I can't- she… She can't…" She whimpered and held her sister closer. "Sasha? Sasha, don't do this to me… You can't… You can't do this to me… Not after everything we've had to go through… Hang on, okay? Just hang… hang on, kid… God, please… Sasha? Sasha!"_

* * *

"Skylar!" Dean's sudden raised voice made her eyes snap open, and she abruptly sat up as she backed herself against the seat. He could read the fear that was clearly written across her face and relaxed his features. "Hey, easy, kid," he said softly, as she blinked a few times, trying to ground herself.

She could feel her heart practically thudding in her ribcage, as her breathing tried to keep up with it, seemingly in a race to see which could go faster. _Focus. Just focus on him. That was the past, this is now... This is now._ Her eyes flickered across his face, looking for small details.

Looking for little details in the things closest to her helped whenever she woke up from a nightmare or was feeling panicky. This time it just so happened to be Dean. He looked a little confused and she figured that it was probably a bit weird to stare. Her face flushed in ever so slight embarrassment and the faintest of apologies left her lips, "Sorry." His brows drew together as she ripped her gaze off of him to look out the window.

She tightly closed her eyes but hastily opened them again when the image of Sasha, bloody and bruised, appeared. She took a deep breath and focused on the city outside, not noticing the two in front share a concerned glance. _At least it means that this is definitely real, huh?_ She thought bitterly. _Dammit…_

Dean cleared his throat quietly, before he said, "We're ten minutes away. Thought you could use that time to wake up properly."

He knew what it was like to have nightmares. Nightmares came with the job. But her? She was a nineteen year old, from a universe that probably didn't even have monsters, and yet she was having nightmares that looked like what a hunter would have. The way her face screwed up when she was still asleep, and the look in her eyes when he woke her up… He'd seen it before with Sam. That haunted look in her eyes. One of the other million questions he had about this kid was, just what had she gone through to get that kind of nightmare?

Skylar simply glanced in his direction and gave him a small nod, then continued to stare out the window.

"Everything okay?" Bobby asked, taking a quick glance at her in the mirror.

"Yeah… Yeah, I'm fine…" she sputtered out, keeping her vision on the buildings passing by outside. When neither of the hunters said anything more she let out a shallow breath, as she stayed perfectly still. Apart from the occasional tapping of her foot that is. When she noticed she was doing it she would stop… only to start again seconds later. Her hand also began to faintly scratch her left arm through the fabric of her shirt, unconsciously.

The faint music coming from the radio helped her focus and she eventually calmed herself down. Her heartbeat and breathing had evened out, and her hand had stopped scratching.

When she knew her voice wasn't going to waver she asked, "What time is it?"

"Couple minutes past four," Bobby answered, and she nodded, not knowing if he saw or not.

She noticed her reflection in the window and saw that she looked as terrible as she felt. She winced before she relaxed her face, just as they pulled into a parking lot to a motel.

As the two hunters were about to exit the car, Skylar spoke up, "I… I think it's best if I stay here." They stopped and looked back at her cautiously; she could see how uneasy they felt about that so she explained herself, "I'm not going to do anything or go anywhere, I swear. I… I don't even know where I would go around… here… wherever we are anyway." She tried her best to think of where the episode took place as she glanced to the dark outside, lit up by street lamps and neon lights, but she wasn't getting anything.

Bobby noticed how frustrated she looked as she thought. "Pontiac, Illinois," he said with a hint of a smile.

She gave him a small thankful smile as she nodded. "I've never even been outside of _Ohio_ , before. _And_ there's also the fact that I'm in a different universe. Where would I go?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

Dean narrowed his eyes as he stated, "We're not letting you stay here on your own." He wanted to keep a close eye on her for multiple reasons. One being that something could've seen her fall and followed them there. It was unlikely, considering they hadn't seen anything suspicious on the nine-hour drive it took them to get there, but still. If a demon had seen her, she'd be dead meat. That or she'd be their new torture toy. He internally winced at the thought.

He didn't know her. Didn't really _trust_ her. But he wasn't going to let anything happen to her. Especially considering they didn't even know how or why she got there in the first place. Not ever knowing would drive him nuts. Until they knew for sure the how, why and who _or what_ , he'd keep a close eye on her. And after they found out the answers to those questions, depending on the situation, he wouldn't care less what she'd do.

Skylar gently sighed. "I get that you guys don't trust me, which is more than understandable; if I was in your guy's shoes I probably wouldn't either… but I swear to you that I intend on sitting in this exact spot until you come back." If she was being _completely_ honest with herself, she felt a lot safer with them around knowing what kind of monsters lurked in the darkness, but she needed some time for herself and this seemed like a good opportunity. There was also the fact that- "I just thought I'd give you guys some space. Family time and all that," -she knew they needed time for themselves as well. _And_ she figured it would be awkward if she was in the same room when they caught up, being she was a complete stranger to them. She saw Bobby's face soften but Dean still didn't look sure about the idea. She sighed in frustration and looked to him with a deadpan expression. "You can handcuff me to the door if it makes you feel better."

He seemed to like the sound of that, but-

"We're not gonna handcuff you-" Bobby sent a stern glance Dean's way, who simply rolled his eyes as Skylar held back a snort. "-but I am gonna give you something. It's not much, but…" He leaned over to open the glovebox and searched around as he mumbled, "Still got one in here I think." He grabbed something out of the mess inside and turned to Skylar, as Dean shut the compartment. "Here it's a-"

"Anti-possession charm amulet… thing."

He rose a brow and his mouth twitched upwards as he passed it to her. "Yeah."

She observed the necklace with a keen eye as a small smile made its way across her face. "Works like yours and Sam's tattoos," she said as she tore her gaze away from it to look at Dean.

He stared at her weirdly for a moment as she looked back at the amulet, before he stated, "Creepy."

She let out a nervous chuckle as she rubbed the side of her face with her free hand. "Yeah… Sorry."

Skylar flashed him a shy smile, as Bobby shook his head slightly before he told her, "If anything happens, just shout okay? We'll be down in a flash."

"Got it."

She placed the necklace around her neck and let it fall against her chest, as Bobby remembered something. "Oh, and here-" He picked up a paper bag that sat between him and Dean, and gave it to her. "-got you a little something to eat. Don't want you starving on us."

She looked at him in surprise before she quickly thanked him, "Oh, uh, thanks." As if on cue, her stomach grumbled to remind her that she was, in fact, pretty darn hungry as she hadn't eaten anything since lunch the previous day.

"Hope you like cheeseburgers and fries," Dean said, just as she peeked inside the bag; she couldn't help but smirk. _Of course it's a cheeseburger._ She raised her head just as they opened their doors. "See you soon, kid." They both exited the car and slammed the doors shut before she could say anything more.

"Yeah, see you," she whispered to herself before she sighed, and looked down at the necklace resting on her chest. She glanced to her left, as she nervously bit her lip, to see the two hunters walking up the steps that led to the motel.

When they were finally out of sight, she moved her shirt collar to the side and brought out another necklace that was hidden underneath the material. A silver feather necklace. _Sasha's_ silver feather necklace. She gave the feather shape a once over, her lips twitching up as she did, before she let it fall against her chest next to the amulet.

Her eyebrows suddenly furrowed as she raised her hand to examine it. The same hand that she punched the mirror with. It was fine. There was no damage or dried blood at all. As she studied her hand, she realised that whoever or _what_ ever brought her there had healed her.

 _Chuck? No. No, it can't be Chuck, he's a prophet. That wouldn't make sense._

To her, _none_ of it made any sense. What was the supposed reason? What was she supposed to do? Why her? He did say that she couldn't tell them about anything to do with their future, so it wasn't to warn them about the things they'd eventually face… _Wait… Chuck doesn't even know that the boys exist yet… He's just writing not realising he's a prophet… What the hell? Then why...? How...?_

"What…?" She shook her head as she felt her head spin. There was so much to think about, and it was going around her mind all at once. She was just getting more confused as time went on. More questions seemed to surface the more she thought. Her jaw ticked and she rubbed her face as she tried her best to stop thinking, though that was a difficult and unwinnable task. She contemplated for a moment more, before her hands dropped into her lap.

Hearing her stomach grumble again made the confusing thoughts seem to disappear as they were quickly replaced by thoughts about food. She sighed through her nose as she opened up the bag and picked up the delicious looking cheeseburger.

She grinned slightly as she brought it to her mouth. _Hello, cheeseburger. Meet, stomach._

* * *

 **Motel room 207.**

"By the way, we have a guest," Dean said as he came out of the bathroom.

Sam lifted his head up to look at his brother. "What kind of guest?" he asked with an eyebrow raised.

Dean leaned against the wall closest to him with a small grin before it quickly disappeared. "A teenage girl who fell out of the sky."

Sam laughed and shook his head. "Yeah, right." But when he glanced back up at Dean and saw that he was serious, his face fell. "You're kidding, right?"

"Nope," Dean answered with every once of seriousness he could considering the situation. Sam sat there with his mouth opening and closing as he thought of what he could say, but Dean continued with a shrug of his shoulders, "I don't know either, man. We were just leaving the house then suddenly this… bright swirling light appeared and she fell from it to the ground."

Sam, just like Dean and Bobby, had never heard of anything like that before. Sure, there were people who said that they had been abducted by aliens and there was a strange light, but this was obviously different to that. The thought of a higher power crossed his mind but he didn't dwell on it, knowing what happened the last time he thought there was an actual angel in their midst when it turned out to be the spirit of a priest. His eyes flickered from side to side, before he said, "She's got to be pretty badly hurt then, right? I mean, falling from the sky?"

"She was fine." Sam raised an eyebrow to which Dean shrugged his shoulders once more. "When I looked at her one minute she had blood pooling around her, then I blinked and it was gone... Thought I imagined it." He shook his head before he moved off the wall and sauntered over towards the door. "We know she's human and she knows about us from a TV show, but… other than that? No idea."

Sam looked at him incredulously. "A _TV show_?" Dean simply gave him a teasing smile, then left the room. "Wait. Dean." He quickly stood up from the couch and headed after him, not forgetting to close and lock the door behind him. "That doesn't make any sense," he said as he caught up with his brother.

"Like I said, I don't know. She falls from the sky same day I get out… It's weird." He looked a little distant before his eyes held a mischievous glint to them. "Oh, and yeah, she's from a different universe too." Dean smirked as Sam stopped in the middle of his tracks, shock and confusion painted all over his face, and chuckled as he kept on walking. "Come on, Sammy," he called over his shoulder with a grin.

Sam opened and closed his mouth a few times again, almost non-audible distressed noises falling from him, before he gave up with a sigh and followed after Dean like a lost puppy.

* * *

One finished burger later, the radio abruptly switched on by itself. Skylar gazed over at it as she placed the empty bag to the side, and her eyes widened in fear. "Wha…" She quickly reached over to turn it off, but as she sat back in the seat, it switched back on. She sat there in shock, her body frozen as she tried to kick her head back into thinking straight.

The noise gradually increased in volume, loud enough to the point where she had to put her hands over her ears, which didn't help much.

She racked her brain as to what was going on and what she should do, when she realised exactly who it was. At least, who she _hoped_ it was. "Hey, Castiel? I can't understand you, okay? This is just white noise to me!" she shouted over the sounds while staring up at the roof of the car. Just when she thought the windows were going to smash, and she prepared herself to curl up into a ball, it stopped.

The radio had turned off but she watched it for a moment more, just to be sure, before she whispered a shaky 'thanks' into the air. She nervously glanced around the car as her hands came down from her ears, before she took a deep breath and hurried out the door.

She shut the door behind her, leaned against it, and took another deep breath.

 _Well…_

 _That was…_

 _That was something..._

* * *

 **Thanks for reading!** **Have a lovely day/night you wonderful people you! :D**


	3. Non ti scordar di me

**Hey! Hope you had some water today. *Finger guns***

* * *

As the three hunters walked towards the stairs leading down to the parking lot, Dean noticed Skylar leaning against Bobby's car. "Hey! I thought you said you weren't gonna move?" he called down to her as he hurried down the steps. There was no reply. Skylar's eyes were scrunched shut and small sounds of frustration left her mouth as she rubbed her ears. He realised that as they got closer to her, and his face morphed into worry. "Kid?"

After she still didn't seem to notice they were there Bobby said her name as he placed a hand on her shoulder, and she jumped at the contact.

"Oh, it's just you guys, hi!" she said a little louder than she meant to which, in turn, made the hunters jump. Her face twisted and she shook her head slightly. "That is… oof… Radio…" Dean's eyes flickered with recognition as she mumbled under her breath. "Church bells…"

"What? What is she-"

Skylar interrupted Sam as her ears suddenly popped and her hearing cleared from the static. "Oh, uh, I think… yeah. I think I'm good now." She gave them a sheepish grin as Sam's and Bobby's eyebrows drew together.

"Was it like what happened to me at the gas station?" Dean questioned quickly.

"Yeah, uh, thankfully I made him stop in time so your windows didn't smash," she said, letting out a small chuckle as she nervously glanced at Bobby, who simply rose a brow. _That would've been awkward._

Dean tilted his head and raised a curious brow of his own. "Him?"

Her eyes widened at her slip-up and wondered for a second if she was going to get another 'headache'. "Uhhh… spoilers," she dragged out.

He looked at her incredulously, similar to how Sam had at him moments ago. "Spoilers?"

Skylar nodded slowly as she glanced between the three of them. "Yeah. Yeah, let's go with that. Uh, I mean, I… I can't exactly… tell you, you know? _Technically_ it's your future."

"Well, _technically_ I don't care," Dean stated as he placed his hands on his hips, looking more frustrated by the minute.

She rolled her eyes and muttered, "Mature."

"Who is this guy, Skylar?"

She frowned and sighed through her nose. "Dean, I can't tell you. I _want_ to. Really, I do. But I can't. If I do then…" She gestured vaguely as her face scrunched up. "I don't know, your guys' whole future could completely… change…" she trailed off as an idea struck her.

Maybe _that_ was why she was brought there.

She knew Chuck said she couldn't tell them about their future… but he didn't say anything about _other_ people's futures. People that they could save. Maybe they could train her up? _She_ could save people. Then she could save _them_ from certain things. It sounded kind of cocky to her, but it _was_ a possibility… She always was one for helping people.

That's not what He intended for her though… Not completely anyway.

"Hey, kid!"

Skylar came out of her thoughts to the sound and sight of Dean snapping his fingers in front of her face, and she gave him an apologetic smile. "Sorry, I was just… thinking about something."

She could see he was about to say something else, but Sam beat him to it. "So, you're Skylar, huh?"

With a cautious smile, she looked over at him and gave him a little wave. "Yeah. Hi, Sam."

He gave her a small smile back, with curiosity in his eyes. "Hi… So, how exactly… How exactly did you fall from the sky?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. All I do know is that I fainted back home and, apparently, fell out of the sky into Bobby's scrapyard."

"Uh huh… And… And you're from a different universe… where it's 2017 and our lives are a TV show?" he asked skeptically, still not believing what Dean had told him was real.

She nodded in confirmation, and he chuckled lightly as he scratched the back of his head.

Bobby let out a deep sigh and decided that he needed some convincing. "Skylar, you wanna say some things that'll make him believe all of this?"

"Uh, yeah, okay…" She cleared her throat awkwardly and wrung her hands together as she thought. "Uh… You had psychic abilities… Visions and stuff."

He stared at her for a moment, looking quite uncomfortable, before he thought of a reasonable explanation and crossed his arms. "You could be psychic yourself."

"Nope," Bobby stated as he put his hands in his jacket pockets.

Skylar thought for a moment, debating with herself if she should even say what she about to say. "Um… the demon's name was… Azazel?" She wondered if how she said it was even the right way to pronounce it, but when she saw the looks on the boy's faces, she knew she was right. "Yeah, Azazel…" She tried her best to give them a comforting smile before it turned into a real one as she remembered something else. Something that Sam had in common with Sasha. "Oh! And you are _terrified_ of clowns." She thought that it would lighten up the mood a little, and she was right, as Dean smirked and Sam just stared at her, unblinking. She rose a brow at Dean with a cheeky grin as she said, "And _you're_ terrified of flying."

Bobby smiled to himself, as Dean's smirk fell and he quickly defended himself, "That is a rational fear."

"Never said it wasn't," she said innocently. He narrowed his eyes at her momentarily as she continued, "And anyway, who said clowns weren't? Apparently, they kill. Eh?" She grinned at Sam who was still staring at her in… shock? She didn't know. She awkwardly coughed to the side, as Dean snickered and Bobby shook his head in amusement.

Sam came out of his stupor and slowly said, "Okay, that's… that's weird."

Skylar huffed and mumbled under her breath, "You're telling me. I fainted out of nowhere and woke up to a shotgun pointed at my face."

Sam's lips twitched up as Dean rolled his eyes and said, "Yeah, well, enough with the chit-chat, huh? Bobby?"

"She's about four hours down the Interstate. Try to keep up." Bobby gave them a smile before he went to open his car door.

"C'mon, kid. You're with us."

"Wait, wait, wait…" The brothers paused their movements and Bobby's hand rested on the door handle as Skylar spoke, "You mean… You mean I get to ride in _the_ Baby? _Dean Winchester's_ 1967 Chevrolet Impala?"

Bobby noticed how her eyes lit up and how her voice held a semblance of disbelief and awe... as Dean just looked at her weirdly. "Uh, yeah?"

A massive grin spread across her face, and that was something that hadn't happen in a long while. "This is the best day of my life…"

"I'm taking it you like cars then?" Bobby asked out of curiosity.

"Bobby, I love 'em. Especially the classics." She glanced over at the beauty of a car and imagined how amazing it would be to drive a car like that. "Though I am pretty biased about my Harley," she added as an afterthought.

A soft smile appeared on his face as he said, "You've named your car Harley, huh?"

She gave him a small smile. "Well, not a car and Harley Davidson is her name anyway, but yeah."

Dean's eyes widened as he asked in shock, " _You_ have a Harley Davidson?"

Her smile faded a little as she said, "Mhmm, 1950's Panhead. Got passed down to me from my Grandpa." Her lips twitched as she looked back over at the car, and flirtatiously greeted the Impala, "Anyway… Hello, Baby." She practically ran over to it, but tried her best to slow down her steps to not look as excited as she was.

"Hey, eyes where I can see 'em," Dean called after her, amusement evident in his voice. Sam snickered, still dumbfounded at the fact that someone from a different universe was currently in the same parking lot as him, as Bobby shook his head softly and got into his own car.

Skylar glanced back at Dean over her shoulder and said, "No promises." As she reached the Impala, she faintly trailed her fingertips over the paintwork, with a fond smile on her face. _Hey there, beautiful._

"I assume you'll want to drive." She heard Sam say, then the jingle of keys being thrown and caught, before he passed by her to get to his door with a smile of his own.

"Hey, sweetheart, did you miss me?" Dean greeted his beloved car before they all got in.

Skylar glanced around the interior in wonderment as she scooted over to the middle of the bench, remembering all the times when she dreamt of sitting in that exact spot.

"What the hell is that?" She looked over at the two brothers in front, to see what made Dean sound a little annoyed.

"That's an iPod jack," Sam explained with a cheeky grin.

 _Jeez, I haven't seen one of those in a while._

She remembered Leah used to have an iPod up until early 2014 when it had an unfortunate 'accident' with a customer's foot... And then that same customer had an unfortunate accident with Hazel's freshly made, piping hot, chicken soup. Skylar's lips twitched up at the memory of Sasha 'accidentally' tripping and spilling the contents of the bowl over him. " _It's what he deserves che cavolo!"_ Leah was heavily amused. Hazel... was not. Though, she was more upset about the wasted soup, not that Sasha had spilt it on the man who had broken her wife's property.

Music playing snatched her from the memory and she restrained herself from smirking once she realised it was a song by Jason Manns.

"Really?" Dean looked over at his brother, pained, as Sam simply shrugged innocently. He ripped the iPod out of the jack and threw it back on instinct, wincing as he remembered they had a passenger, but Skylar caught it easily with a huff of surprise. "... Nice catch."

"Testing my reflexes, huh?" she joked.

"Obviously," he said with a short nod.

She and Sam snickered before she gently placed the device next to her on the seat.

Dean started up the car and began to drive out of the parking lot, as Skylar caught a glimpse of the little green army man that was stuck in the ashtray of the left backseat door. She smiled, remembering all the small details that made Baby, Baby, before glancing out the window.

Her eyebrows furrowed as she realised she didn't know where they were headed. "Uh, hey. Do you mind if I get a little refresh? Where are we going?"

"To see a psychic about whatever pulled me out… Though it would be a whole lot easier if you just told us," Dean muttered.

She frowned as she thought how annoying it must be for them to have the answers right there, but not getting told them, and sighed quietly to herself. "I'm sorry, dude. I can't tell you…" she said softly, with a hint of regret underlying the words. Then she rose a brow at herself and faced them. "I can tell you one thing though, maybe… Like a clue. Though… it's kind of a bad one, I guess." _If Chuck or whoever doesn't give me a headache again._

"What is it?" They both asked at the same time.

She paused, waiting to see if she was going to get stopped, before she said, "It wasn't a demon."

They both processed what she said, with confused faces all the while, before Dean asked, "Well, what could it have been?" He glanced in the rearview mirror and caught her eyes, which had remorse swimming in them. "Right, right. Don't have to give us the sad eyes."

After a moment or so, Sam asked with pure curiosity, "So, when did it start? The TV show, I mean."

Skylar glanced at the side of his head before she stared out the window again. "Uh, when your dad went missing, and Dean came to pick you up at Stanford."

"When did it finish?" Dean was curious himself as to how long they had left, or if it got cancelled. He wouldn't be surprised if it did, considering their lives.

"It hasn't." _That_ definitely surprised them. "Season twelve finished a few months ago, I think. Haven't seen it since season ten."

Dean chuckled lightly. "You finally got sick of our lives?"

She wrinkled her nose before she said, "No, I just… I haven't had time to watch it since then. Been super busy these past couple years." _Not a complete lie. I've been working in the cafe… and playing video games._

The truth was Skylar couldn't face watching the show without her sister. They watched most TV shows and movies together, but Supernatural was one of the special ones. The show meant a lot to them.

"Well, good to know we're probably still alive in nine years, at least," Dean mumbled to himself, before he asked something that was bugging him, "Why would anyone even want to watch our lives anyway?"

Skylar scoffed in amusement. "Two brothers that would do anything for each other, living on the road, going state to state, hunting monsters, saving lives, filled with action, comedy, and all round kick-assery…" She fiddled about with her necklaces before quickly deciding to put them under her shirt. "That's why."

"Huh… I guess we are kinda badass," Dean said with a cheeky grin.

"What's it called?"

Dean rolled his eyes. "Really, Sam?"

"What? I'm curious," he said defensively.

Skylar smiled faintly. "'Supernatural.'"

" _Really?_ That's… kinda underwhelming…" Dean muttered with disappointment bleeding into his tone.

Skylar just shrugged. "Eh, it says what you get on the tin."

"Fair enough," Sam said as he raised his eyebrows and quirked his lips in a certain way which made Skylar's own eyebrows twitch upwards, as she kept back a smile.

 _The sturgeon face! He did the sturgeon face!_ She gently coughed into her hand to keep down a chuckle then looked back out the window to see buildings passing by.

* * *

A while of driving later, Skylar got the feeling that Dean wanted to have a conversation with his brother.

Either that or he was just feeling really fidgety.

She sneakily let out a convincing yawn and relaxed against the back seat, slowly closing her eyes in the process as if she really was tired; she wasn't, considering the nine-hour nap on the way to the motel, but she wanted to give them some privacy. Or at least feel like they were talking in private. She focused on the music coming from the radio to occupy her mind.

After a few minutes, Dean spoke up, "There's still one thing that's bothering me. Well, other than how green hair back there fell outta the sky."

She just about managed to hold back a smirk. _That's something you don't hear every day._

Sam snickered quietly to himself before he asked inquisitively, "Yeah?"

"Yeah, the night I bit it. Or… got bit."

Skylar could hear him chuckle at his own joke and stopped herself from rolling her eyes underneath her lids. She did her best to block out what they were saying, mainly by thinking to herself and listening to the faint music, but something Sam said caught her attention.

"Nothing, Dean. Look, you didn't want me to go down that road, so I didn't go down that road. It was practically your dying wish."

 _Damn, Sam…_ She remembered the reason as to why he didn't want Dean to know about him using his powers, but she thought that it had to hurt him to say that.

"Yeah, well, let's keep it that way." Skylar could hear the worry in Dean's voice and she couldn't help but feel a little worried for Sam herself. What with Ruby, his impending demon blood addiction, Lucifer…

 _I'm getting ahead of myself… Just focus on right now. All that stuff can wait until it actually happens… If I'm still here by then anyway._

Sometime later Dean spoke again, "You weren't asleep for any of that, were you?"

She peeked an eye open and caught his own eyes in the rear-view mirror. She glanced over at Sam to see him slumped against his seat fast asleep, then looked back to Dean and gave him an apologetic smile. "Sorry. It's hard for me to sleep when I've already slept for a while."

He simply shrugged. "S'ok. That was probably apart of the 'show' too, huh?"

"Sounded kinda familiar, yeah…" She focused on the trees flashing past them before her lips curled up at the edges. "It's teal."

Dean's eyebrow's furrowed, completely confused. "What?"

"It's teal, not green," she said as pointed to her hair.

He scoffed lightly with a small smile of his own. "Same thing."

She paused, her smile breaking momentarily, before she shook her head and rolled her eyes.

He gently cleared his throat before he said, "Hey, uh, about... our conversation earlier. You can't tell them-"

She quickly interrupted him as she doubted he even wanted to bring it up, "I wasn't going to. That's your business and they're your family, it's got nothing to do with me. I may know stuff about you guys from the show, but... This is your guys' lives and I'm not gonna interfere like that." She gave him a reassuring look and he nodded.

"...Thanks, Skylar."

She simply nodded and began to stare out the window again. Her thoughts drifted towards the psychic they were going to see, but she couldn't remember much about her. She remembered what she looked like. She remembered that she was flirty and a badass. But she couldn't remember her name… and she felt like there was something else. Something important that happened there. Something bad.

"Hey, what's this psychic's name?" she asked calmly, thinking that if she was reminded of her name then she'd remember what happened.

"Uh, I dunno."

Skylar hummed in acknowledgement, as her eyebrow twitched.

"Why do you ask?" Dean questioned as he glanced back at her.

She fumbled with the cuff of her sleeve as she said, "I can see her face, I just… can't remember her name." She let out a scoff of a laugh. "Doesn't help that I have the worst memory ever anyway."

He chuckled before he said, "Well, we'll be there in a few hours anyway. No need to rack your brain about it."

"Yeah…"

* * *

Skylar couldn't help but feel tiny standing next to Sam. She was average height, standing at around about 5ft8, but with the 6ft4 man standing next to her... Her shoulders hunched somewhat and she rubbed the tops of her arms as she glanced to the side, then took the smallest of steps backwards, so everyone wasn't in a straight line… and so she was ever so slightly hidden behind Sam's tall frame. She felt a little childish but her nerves outran that feeling by a long shot.

She still couldn't remember what happened once they were inside.

The door opened and Pamela stood there with a grin on her face as she chuckled fondly. "Bobby!" She hugged him before briefly lifting him off the ground, which made Skylar smile before it quickly faded.

As they all greeted each other, Skylar looked down at her boots awkwardly, still trying to remember what would happen.

"Dean Winchester. Out of the fire and back in the frying pan, huh? Makes you a rare individual."

"If you say so."

Pamela's eyes drifted towards Skylar, who gave her a nervous smile as she lifted her head. "And you must be Skylar, right?"

"Yeah, uh... Hi," she said awkwardly as she started to play with the end of her sleeve.

Pamela looked her up and down with a cheeky smile. "You're not from around here, are you?"

"Uh… You-You could say that…" Skylar took a quick glance at the hunters, before looking down at her boots, then back up at Pamela.

"Yeah. Bobby told me." She sent her a grin and Skylar chuckled quietly. "Got you, huh? There's no need to be nervous, promise. I don't bite." She gave Skylar a wink then opened the door wider so they could all enter. "Come on in."

As they entered her home, Bobby asked, "So, you hear anything?"

Skylar glanced around, not paying attention to what they were all saying, just trying to see if anything reminded her, but luck was not on her side. _Come on, brain, please. I know I'm bad at remembering things but this is unfair._

"A séance, I think, See if we can see who did the deed."

Skylar stopped fiddling with her shirt and her head turned to stare at Pamela, as her eyes widened. _Séance. It's something to do with the séance._

She noticed Sam looking at her in concern and quickly wiped the worry off her face, then sent him a smile to reassure him it was nothing. He simply nodded and gave her a smile in return, though it didn't look all that convincing. _Great. Now I made him suspicious._

"You're not gonna… summon the damn thing here." Bobby looked a little worried himself at the thought of a séance.

"No. I just want a sneak peek at it. Like a crystal ball without the crystal." Pamela grinned at him before she walked into the next room.

"I'm game," Dean said with a small smile before the hunters followed her.

Skylar stayed where she was for a second, to swallow the lump in her throat, before she took a deep breath and followed them.

* * *

As Bobby shut the curtains and Pamela got things set up, Skylar stood off to the side near the couch, a little ways away from the brothers. Her eyes darted around the room as she fiddled with her sleeve again. She didn't know what to do. She couldn't just shout out 'hey, something bad is going to happen if we do this, so don't.' They would want a better explanation than that. They'd want answers that she couldn't give because she couldn't remember.

It was like it was a blank spot.

"Hey, there's nothing to worry about. I promise."

Pamela's voice snapped her out of her thoughts and she looked at her to see a comforting smile on her face. "Ye-" Skylar cleared her throat before she continued, "Yeah, I know… It's just… I dunno." She shrugged with an awkward smile.

Pamela placed the candles that she had in her hands down on the couch before she put them out in front of herself, palms facing upwards. "Here. Let me hold those hands of yours a sec." Skylar did so, cautiously, and Pamela's eyes widened as soon as their hands connected. "Woah. That's… wow," she chuckled out the last word but it sounded more like it was out of shock than humour, which caught the attention of the hunters in the room.

"Wha… What is it?" Skylar asked as she tried to not seem too scared.

"Something powerful. Can't tell _what_ exactly, but…" Pamela looked into her eyes and said, "Skylar, whatever brought you here… I don't think it's nice."

Skylar's head began to spin and she frowned.

Smiling, Pamela rubbed her thumbs over the back of Skylar's hands to comfort her. "You don't need to worry. These boys will keep you safe, right?"

Just as Skylar glanced at the hunters, they looked anywhere but her. She sighed gently then stared down at the floor as her thoughts turned sour. _Why would they help me? … Why_ should _they help me?_

She lifted her head up to look at Pamela who was smiling gently, but her eyes held something she couldn't quite place.

Skylar's eyebrows twitched before she asked, "Do… Do you know of some way I could get back?" She felt weird asking that. Like she didn't really want to ask it... Like she didn't really want to go home. In truth… she didn't. Not really. She did for Hazel and Leah, they were her family after all, but… they had drifted apart after Sasha died. Especially in the last few months before her universe hop. She felt like they were better off without her there. And that wasn't a new thought, unfortunately.

Pamela grinned at her. "No. But I'll try my damndest to find something so you can get home safe and sound."

It shocked Skylar at how determined Pamela had said that.

She simply gave her a grin. "Sky, from what I sense about you… You're a good kid. Why wouldn't I help you?" She smiled warmly and Skylar tried to give one back, but negative thoughts slipped through. "And don't go thinking like that." Pamela rose a brow at her with a smirk, as Skylar froze momentarily before she smiled awkwardly and nodded. "Right." She let go of Skylar's hands and picked up the candles as she gave her another grin. "Let's start that séance."

After everything was ready, they all took a seat at the table.

"Right. Take each other's hands." Skylar subtly wiped her sweaty ones on the tops of her jeans before taking Sam's and Bobby's, and sent them each a small smile. "And I need to touch something our mystery monster touched." Pamela's hand disappeared beneath the table and Dean jumped in his seat.

"Woah. Well, he didn't touch me there."

Pamela chuckled as Skylar rolled her eyes, smile still on her face. "My mistake."

Dean glanced around the table nervously, pausing on Skylar- she quickly looked away, not wanting him to see the nerves in her eyes- then let go of Bobby's and Sam's hands to take off his outer shirt and lifted his left t-shirt sleeve.

Skylar's eyes widened ever so slightly at the handprint brand that marked Dean's upper arm. _That looks like it hurt._ She winced internally as she let out a shallow breath.

"Okay." Pamela placed her hand on the brand, and they all closed their eyes and rejoined hands. "I invoke, conjure, and command you, appear unto me before this circle," she began chanting.

When the TV in the corner of the room switched on, and the table started to shake, Skylar's eyes snapped open. As she glanced around she noticed Dean had his eyes open too and gave him an unconvincing smile. He furrowed his eyebrows at her in response, noticing that she was scared for a different reason other than a shaky table. She simply looked away and tightly shut her eyes as she tried to think. _Dammit. Come on, brain. Help me out here!_

"I invoke, conjure, and command… Castiel? No. Sorry, Castiel, I don't scare easy."

Skylar's eyes abruptly opened again.

"Castiel?" Dean asked cautiously.

"Its name. It's whispering to me, warning me to turn back."

The image of Pamela's eyes being burned out of her skull suddenly popped up in Skylar's mind, and Dean saw the realisation in _her_ eyes, like a lightbulb went off in her brain. She let out a breath before she quickly said, "Pamela, you should listen to him. Stop." She didn't want to let go of Bobby's and Sam's hands in case it would cause something to go wrong. She didn't know that much about séances after all.

"It's fine, Skylar. I've got it under control," she replied calmly, which, safe to say, did not put Skylar at ease. She continued to chant as the hunters opened their eyes to look at Skylar.

"No. Pamela, you need to stop!" Her hands tightened around Sam's and Bobby's, like she was trying to get across the seriousness of her words but terrified to let go. She could feel her heart beating faster than whenever she woke from a nightmare.

Bobby, seeing the distress in her eyes and worried about the situation himself, said, "Maybe we _should_ stop."

"I almost got it," Pamela said back, determined as ever. "I command you, show me your face!"

"Pamela, he going to-" Skylar got cut off by a wave of pain in her mind, only this time... it was _much_ worse. She grunted in pain and her hands tightened around the two even more, so tight that her nails dug in.

 _"Skylar, I'm sorry. This is going to hurt... but it's for your own good."_ Chuck's voice flowed through her head once again, but this time he was whispering… with the smallest hint of guilt in his tone.

"Show me your face now!"

The pain increased tenfold and she screamed the same time Pamela did. Skylar's eyes clenched shut as Pamela's burned in a bright light, and they both fell from their chairs.

Skylar barely processed the feeling of two hands holding her shoulders and gently helping her to the ground. She was barely processing anything at all. As she clawed at her head, she curled up into the fetal position, flinching and practically thrashing about at times due to the pain. Flashes of images from the show passed through her mind as she continued to scream in agony.

It was like her brain was being compressed in a vice.

Then she suddenly stopped screaming, and her body fell limp.

* * *

"Skylar!"

She mumbled something unintelligible then felt a faint nudge on her arm.

"Hey, wake up, kid," Dean said, kneeling down next to her. When Skylar's eye's finally fluttered open they were a bright, glowing, blue. Almost like an otherworldly blue. Dean stared at her, confused as all hell, but when she blinked it was gone.

"Wha… What hap-" she started to mumble but stopped when she turned her head to see Pamela, whose eye sockets were bleeding. "Pa-Pamela? No…" She stared at her and started to cry at what she saw. Her eyes were gone. They were burned out of her skull.

Bobby spoke to Dean calmly but with urgency, "Get her out of here."

Dean nodded and said, "C'mon, kid." He pulled her up and she simply let him guide her through the house out to the porch, not even noticing Sam pacing in another room on the phone. She let her legs do the work for her as her head whirled.

The pain was still there. It just wasn't as bad as it was in the house. It was more like a super bad migraine, opposed to the feeling of an actual fire in her brain.

"I… I don't-" She tried to speak and snap out of the shock she was experiencing, but she couldn't get the image of Pamela out of her mind.

Dean clapped a hand on her shoulder and bent his head down so he was level with her. "Hey, just focus, okay? What happened to you? Was it the same guy?"

She shook her head and drew her eyebrows together. "Wha- No. No, it… It wasn't him. I… I don't know what happened, I just…" She tried to focus and felt her stomach drop at a thought. "Oh, shit… I can't… I can't remember…" Her voice cracked.

She felt sick.

She felt like there was a hole in the pit of her stomach.

"You blacked out. Had another one of those 'headaches' of yours. You were only out for a few seconds, not even a minute."

She started to panic, her hand instantaneously tugging at the cuff of her shirt as she shrugged his hand off her shoulder and quickly said, "No. Not that. I mean I can't-I can't remember. I… I can't remember what happens next. Like, any- anything about the show. I can't-"

Dean, not noticing how truly panicked she was, joked, "Well, I'm not complaining about that."

She shook her head adamantly and stared at him with desperate eyes. "No. No, you don't understand! It's more than that! I can't remember _watching_ the show after this point, Dean. The memories I had of me and Sasha watching it are just… gone, I… I…" At this point her breathing was rapid and she had the sudden overwhelming need to run and hide. She began pacing as tears slipped down her face and she berated herself in her thoughts for freaking out in front of Dean.

Dean though simply stared at her, realised she was having an anxiety attack and didn't have the faintest idea of how to calm her down. He opened his mouth to speak but Sam took the perfect moment to open the door and as soon as he caught his eye, his own screamed, 'Help me out here, man!'

Sam quickly made his way over to them and gently spoke to her, "Hey, easy, Skylar. Just take some deep breaths, okay?" He asked if it was okay to place a hand on her back and she nodded as she whimpered, remembering a certain friend that would help her with her attacks back home. He continued comforting her, as Dean stood awkwardly to the side, and after a minute her breathing returned to its usual pace. Sam rubbed a couple of circles into her back before lifting his hand away and asked, "You feeling better?"

Skylar let out one more deep breath as she nodded. "Yeah… sure." She gingerly sat down on the porch, and her jaw tensed before she relaxed it again. "That asshole took my memories. Why… Why would they do that? Why am I even here in the first place?" She let out an exacerbated sigh and put her hands to her face.

Sam smiled at her reassuringly and sat next to her, but with enough space between them so she didn't feel overcrowded. "We'll find out," he said after a moment, sharing a look with his brother.

She stared out into the street for a moment, not daring to look either in the eye. "No."

Both of them tilted their heads. "No?"

"You guys have got enough on your plate. You don't need me around messing things up more. I should just go." She stood up and hastily walked away as she wiped her eyes.

"Hey!" Dean called out to her, before turning back to face Sam as he stood so he could say, "Go check on Pamela and Bobby." Sam nodded reluctantly and went back in the house as Dean caught up to Skylar. He stood in front of her path as he said, "Hey, that's not happening."

She sighed deeply and looked at him in frustration. "I tried to stop what happened in there from happening. I… I obviously didn't try hard enough, but stuff like that is just going to happen again _and again_ if I stay with you guys and I can't even warn you about it. I couldn't tell you if something was gonna happen even if I did have my memories, so what's the point? I'm just going to get in your way." She went to go around him but he simply sidestepped. She sighed and crossed her arms.

"Yeah? Well if you leave, you will more than likely die. Whatever messed up your memories and this Castiel guy-" She couldn't remember Cas. "-if you leave, they will more than likely be after you and if not, then it would be demons or any other goddamn monster that's out there."

She scoffed. "Why would monsters be after me?"

"You fell from the sky and come from a different universe," he deadpanned.

She glanced off to the side. _Yeah, I guess I can't argue with that logic._

"Demons would probably want in on that and have questions that you obviously don't have answers to, but they wouldn't care that you don't know. You'd be tortured." She still didn't look him in the eye and he sighed before he stated, "Look… I don't know you. I don't even know if I can trust you. But I am sure as hell not letting you get hurt or worse."

 _Why the fuck do you care if I get hurt or not?_

"We will find out what's going on, and when I know for _damn_ sure that you are safe, then you can go and do whatever. And that's _only_ if we can't get you back home." She didn't answer him so he moved his head so they were eye level again. "Okay, Skylar?"

She stared at him for a moment, thinking to herself and noticing the genuineness in his eyes, before she sighed deeply once more. She whispered out, "Okay… Thank you, Dean." Her head was all over the place, but she appreciated the fact that he and Sam were willing to help her out.

He rose a brow before he shook his head. "Yeah, whatever. Come on, kid." He patted her shoulder then headed back into the house.

She stood there for a moment, her eyes tightly closed as she let the wind breeze over her, before she reluctantly followed him.

* * *

A few hours later the three of them were sitting in a cafe, waiting to hear from Bobby. Sam had his phone in his hands, fiddling with it, and Skylar was staring at it weirdly.

"What is it?" Sam asked when he realised she was staring.

She glanced up at him and shrugged with a lopsided smile. "I kinda forgot flip phones were even a thing."

Dean let out a quiet scoff of a laugh. "I'm guessing technology advances then?"

"Yeah. Yeah, a little," she said quietly. She rose a brow in slight amusement. "I would say I'd show you my phone but, uh, don't have it on me."

They both let out a short chuckle before Sam's phone began to ring. He stood up and walked a little ways away from them and Skylar's smile quickly faded. She felt awful about Pamela. So much so that she had another panic attack after the ambulance took her and Bobby to the hospital, which lasted for twenty odd minutes. And now... Now she just felt tired.

Dean turned in his seat so he could catch the waitress' attention, who came over to the table with her notepad and pen at the ready. "What can I get you?"

Skylar wasn't looking at her, as she was too busy staring at her hands lost in her thoughts, but she did feel a wave of nervousness flow through her when the waitress spoke. She glanced at Dean when he didn't answer to see that he was looking over at her with an expectant look. "Oh, uh, I don't want anything. Thanks for the offer though." After she gave him a barely-there smile she looked back down at her hands.

"Three slices of cherry pie, thanks," he told the waitress then glanced back at Skylar with a pointed look. "There's always room for pie."

Skylar snickered. "You sound like my sister."

He noticed the sad tilt to her voice and furrowed his brows, before he joked, "Well, she sounds funny for a seventeen-year-old girl."

A real smile couldn't help but come through as she shook her head. "That was so bad."

He grinned as the waitress simply said, "Be up in a jiff."

Skylar lifted her head up and her eyes narrowed slightly, as the waitress walked away. Skylar noticed she had a smirk on her lips that didn't look all that friendly... but it was gone in a blink of her eye. Her eyebrow's twitched, but her attention was taken by Sam returning.

"You bet."

He flipped his phone down and sat in his seat as Dean asked, "What'd Bobby say?"

"Pam's stable. And out of I.C.U."

Dean decided to add to that, "And blind, because of us."

"Becuase of me," Skylar whispered under her breath, but they still heard her.

Dean winced, as Sam frowned and looked at her with sad eyes. "She said to say thank you."

Skylar continued to stare down at her hands before Sam's words actually processed and she looked up at him. "What?"

"You tried to stop it from happening, and she appreciates it." He gave her a smile but it faltered a little as he noticed a certain look in her eyes. A look that Dean usually had whenever everything piled up on him and he felt like everything going wrong was down to him, but he still tried to hide how he really felt. She looked down again and he gently sighed through his nose. "And, yeah, we still have no clue who we're dealing with," he said as he looked back over to his brother.

Skylar zoned out of their conversation as she stared at the table. Just like in the car, her thoughts drifted along with the faint music in the background of the cafe. _Sasha would know what to do. She'd be practically fine in this situation. She probably would've been able to save Pamela's eyes, and who knows what else… Dammit. I wish I was as strong as she was… I miss you so damn much, Sash…_

"-about something."

Skylar came out of her thoughts as a piece of pie was placed in front of her. She blinked a couple of times to get rid of the blurriness in her eyes, as Sam thanked the waitress. But instead of going back behind the counter, the waitress sat in the chair opposite her.

Dean rose a brow, with a hint of a smirk, as he asked, "You angling for a tip?"

 _Please tell me he meant the money kind of tip._

"I'm sorry. Thought you were looking for us." Skylar flinched and felt a shiver go down her spine at seeing her eyes turn completely obsidian, but the demon simply tilted her head and smirked at her. "Never seen a demon before, sweetie?"

Skylar's hand that was resting on the table twitched at hearing the nickname, but she hardened her eyes and stared right at her. She didn't want to give the demon the satisfaction of getting to her… but hoo boy was she terrified.

The other two people in the cafe, the cook and a customer, also had black eyes. One went over to the door, locked it, and stood on guard.

"Eyes on me, _sweetie_ ," Dean practically taunted. Skylar's hand twitched again and Sam noticed, before his eyes quickly went back to the demon sitting next to him, and glared at her.

The demon broke the little staring contest and looked at Dean. She blinked, her eyes turning back to her 'meat suit's' usual ones. "Dean. To Hell and back. Aren't you a lucky duck."

"That's me."

She tilted her head again and questioned him, "So you get to just stroll out of the pit, huh? Tell me. What makes you so special?"

He smirked at her as he said, "I like to think it's because of my perky nipples." Skylar reframed from rolling her eyes, as the demon stared at him, unimpressed. His face turned serious. "I don't know. Wasn't my doing, I don't know who pulled me out."

"Right, you don't."

"No, I don't," he stated truthfully.

Skylar couldn't help but notice that the demon suddenly looked a little worried.

"Lying's a sin, you know."

"I'm not lying."

The demon's eyes darted towards Sam, as he continued to glare at her, before she looked back at Dean.

"But, I'd like to find out, so if you wouldn't mind enlightening me, Flo…"

"Mind your tone with me, boy, I'll drag you back to Hell myself," she threatened, but Skylar could tell it was an empty one. Be it down to her instincts or something else she couldn't tell.

Sam moved as if to attack, but Dean halted his movements by putting a hand up.

"No, you won't," he stated confidently.

"No?"

"No. Because if you were you would have done it already. Fact is. You don't know who cut me loose. And you're just as spooked as we are. And you're looking for answers." He leaned back in his seat then continued his little speech, "Well, maybe it was some turbo-charged spirit. Or, uh, Godzilla. Or some big bad boss demon. I'm guessing at your pay grade that they don't tell you squat. Because whoever it was, they want me out. And they're a lot stronger than you. So go ahead. Send me back. But don't come crawling to me when they show up on your front doorstep with some Vaseline and a fire hose."

"I'm going to reach down your throat and rip out your lungs," the demon said, almost calmly.

Dean leaned towards her, mouth open ever so slightly as a prompt, but she didn't move a muscle. He abruptly slapped the demon's cheek a couple of times and Skylar had to stop herself from flinching again. The demon still didn't move and suddenly looked quite scared, as Dean stated, "That's what I thought. Let's go, Sam. Skylar."

They all rose from their seats and Skylar trailed behind Sam to the door, as Dean paused to put some money on the table. "For the pie." He followed after the two and when they had exited the building and were out of earshot he looked like he, putting it bluntly, almost shat himself. "Holy crap, that was close." He glanced over at Skylar and saw how her eyes were widened in fear. "You okay, kid?"

"Demons. Actual… demons," she muttered before she shook herself out of it. "Their eyes are a lot less freaky on the show."

"Let me guess, those creepy contact things and some effects?" She nodded with a nervous smile and he chuckled.

 _I think it's more the fact that on the show I know it's just actors with contacts or effects..._ _That... that was just pure... evil._

Sam frowned as he said, "We're not just going to leave them in there, are we, Dean?"

"Well yeah, there's three of them, probably more, and we've only got one knife between us. And Skylar here isn't exactly a hunter." He cocked a brow at his brother as he stated the obvious.

Sam glanced at her and his frown only increased. "I've been killing a lot more demons than that lately," he muttered distractedly, as he noticed how Skylar was staring off into the distance, not concentrating on what they were saying, just off in her own thoughts.

"Not anymore, the smarter brother's back in town."

There was a small pause before Sam stated, "Dean, we've got to take 'em. They are dangerous."

"They're scared. Okay? Scared of whatever had the juice to yank me out. We're dealing with a bad mofo here. One job at a time."

Sam glanced back over at Skylar, seeing she was still out of it, and whispered loud enough that Dean could hear him, "Technically we've got two jobs." Dean looked at him in confusion, so he nodded his head over in Skylar's direction, which made Dean roll his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, smart-ass."

Skylar came out of her daze and shook her head slightly.

"Are you sure you're okay, Sky?" Sam asked with concern in his voice, worried that she was going to have another anxiety attack.

She blinked a couple of times before saying, "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Just blanked out for a second there." She gave him a smile but he didn't believe it was a genuine one for a second.

"You're taking the whole demon thing a lot better than other people would," Dean stated, wondering how she looked so calm.

She breathed out a quiet laugh. "Trust me, I am definitely freaking out on the inside... I just... I think I'm freaked out so much that I'm calm... If that makes any sense."

Sam sent his classic puppy dog eyes her way, but she didn't notice them as she was staring off into the distance. "We'll go back to the motel after a stop at the library-" Dean looked exacerbated at the thought. "-and get some books to figure out whoever this Castiel guy is. While we do that you can have some time to get your head around... all this." He gave her a comforting smile, and she returned a small one before she looked back at the path in front of her.

After a moment, just before they reached the car, her eyes shut as she remembered something. "Oh, crap."

"What?" Dean asked, seeing that it wasn't something life-threatening.

"I..." She chuckled slightly. "I might've forgotten my glasses back in the other universe."

There was a pause before Dean said with a joking undertone, "You're only just realising everything's blurred?"

She rolled her eyes. "No, jackass. They're for reading and computer screens and stuff. I mean, technically, I should wear them all the time but I can see well enough without them." There was a pause before she added, "They make the bridge of my nose feel weird." They each raised a brow at her and she glanced over at them, suddenly feeling quite shy. "What? They do."

* * *

 **Che cavolo! = That cabbage!**

 **It's a great insult, what are you talking about?**

 **Thanks for reading! :D**


	4. Time to meet a Celestial being

**Hey... It's almost been a year... Heh. c:**

 ** _So_ , to kind of make up for not posting in... a long while, I'm going to post this chapter today and then tomorrow I will post, 'Chapter 4.5: Chris Tettrek.' :)**

 **Also, this is out waaaaayy later than intended because a couple video games kinda took over my life for a little bit, I re-wrote the first three chapters, (So if you want to go read them please do, you don't have to though) and some personal stuff happened, so I'm sorry about the long wait. :c**

 **Oh! By the way, if you didn't know what the last chapter's title 'Non ti scordar di me' means, it's 'Forget-me-not' in Italian. At least I _hope_ that's the correct way of saying it. If it's not, please feel free to let me know so I can change it! I thought it kind of fit with the chapter, you know? ;D**

 **Anywho...**

 **Chapter! Commence! *Snaps fingers***

* * *

Only a few steps into the motel room and the three of them stopped in their tracks.

There, on the couch, was a backpack.

They all rose a brow and Skylar mumbled, "What the fudge sundae surprise?"

Sam and Dean stared at her, confusion on their faces. "What?"

Tearing her eyes away from the backpack, she glanced at the hunters a little sheepishly. "I work in a cafe. It… It was a thing we'd say whenever… Nevermind." She shook her head and began to head over to the couch, but Sam halted her movements as he juggled the books in his hands.

"Wait, wait. It could be a bomb or something."

She rose a brow and said, "It's my backpack with a note on it. That's a very weird, friendly bomber, Sam." Continuing her way over to it, and walking backwards for a second or two, she said, "If it is though, I'll shout and you run, okay? Make sure to jump and do a cool roll." She gave him a teasing smile, and he rolled his eyes with a hint of a smile on his own face.

" _Your_ backpack?" Dean questioned, as Skylar put the books in her own hands down next to the couch. "How do you know it's yours?"

She turned to face them with her lips pressed together and tapped her chin in fake thought. "Because I know what my backpack looks like?" The backpack in question was black and dark blue, with a few scuff marks and a couple of small tears in the fabric from where it had years of use. "Also, it has my name written on it right _there_." She pointed to the hanger of the backpack and, sure enough, her first name was scribbled there in white ink.

The brothers joined her by the couch, and put down the books that they had, as Dean said, "Okay, miss sassy pants. What does the note say?"

 _I do tend to get snarky when I'm tired, huh?_ Her nose wrinkled before she picked up the note and read it aloud, "'Skylar, I thought you would need some things from home. -G.'"

"G?" Dean repeated.

Skylar's eyebrows knitted together as she tried to think, but the only person she could think of was Gordon Walker. He didn't seem the type of person to do something like this though, _and_ there was also the fact that he was dead. If she remembered Purgatory, she would have found it ironic that Gordon was now there, in a place full of monsters that he hated so much. No one else came to mind though.

"No clue." She shook her head faintly as she put the note down and, just before she went to open the backpack, decided to send Sam a cheeky look instead. "It's the red wire, right?"

Sam scoffed out a laugh with a grin plastered on his face. "Open the damn bag."

She gave him a quick grin back and did as he said, as Dean rolled his eyes with a small smile of his own. The first things she saw was her Polaroid camera and a few photos on top of her clothes.

Sam and Dean leaned over curiously to look at the photos as she picked them up.

She didn't seem to mind.

The first photo was of Viola, her mom, stood next to Anthony, her dad, in their old backyard under an oak tree which had a swing attached to one of the branches. Anthony was wearing his military uniform, his blonde hair was cut short, and his icy blue eyes had a stern edge to them. He held a two-year-old Sasha in his arms, as a four-year-old Skylar stood between her parents. Viola had one hand on Skylar's shoulder and the other on Anthony's back as they all wore happy grins, while Sasha was looking at something off in the distance with curious eyes.

The small frown on Skylar's face at seeing that photo turned into a bigger one when she saw the next one.

It was of Viola in a hospital bed looking worse for wear, but she was still smiling. Her daughters were sat on either side of her bed, each holding a hand of her's. An eleven-year-old Sasha's eyes held optimism, while a thirteen-year-old Skylar's looked heavy, tired, and not optimistic at all. Sasha smiled brightly as Skylar smiled a barely-there smile.

 _I haven't looked at these in years…_

The brother's eyebrows drew together as the photos told a story of sorts.

The next one was just the two sisters in their apartment, aged fourteen and sixteen. They both had big toothy grins on their faces and were genuinely happy. Sasha had an arm around her sister's shoulder as did Skylar, but as Sasha's other arm rested at her side, Skylar's other arm was up and out of frame, suggesting that she took the photo herself. In the background laid a pile of books with a couple of Nerf guns, next to a couch.

Skylar let herself smile faintly, and it stayed for the next photos, that also looked like she took herself.

One was of Hazel and Leah sat across from the sisters as they all sat in one of the booths at the cafe. Leah was midway through pecking her wife on the cheek as Hazel blushed. The light filtering through the windows made Leah's freckles more prominent, and Hazel's apple green eyes shine brighter than usual. Sasha did a peace sign while her tongue stuck out, and Skylar was simply grinning.

The other was without Sasha, Hazel and Leah. Instead of any of them, there was a guy who was around about the same age as Skylar. He had sandy blonde hair, hazel eyes and wore a pair of black rimmed glasses. They both had warm smiles on their faces and his head leaned against hers, as they sat on the same couch in the other photo. In all of the previous photos, Skylar's hair was its natural dark brown colour and was either down, the tips reaching her shoulders, or up in a ponytail; in this one, however, her hair was now dyed teal and cut shorter, in a pixie cut kind of style.

Skylar's smile faded when she saw his face, and she let out a breath before she spoke, "Well, I'm guessing whoever brought me here thinks I'm going to be here a while if they gave me these." The two brothers hummed thoughtfully, as she shook her head slightly and zipped open the front pocket of her backpack to put the photos away. There were a few more photos with the ones she had in her hands, but she didn't feel like going down memory lane any more than she had done already.

In the front pocket was an envelope. It looked a few years old but it didn't have any rips in it. It was looked after carefully.

Skylar pretended she didn't see it as she placed the photos in the pocket and took out another object that was in the bag. "Lucky me. I get to read too." It was her glasses. Her spare pair were also in the bag.

"Eh, that can wait until later," Dean said, not exactly wanting to dive into the pile of books like Sam was. He flopped down on the couch and asked, "So, what happened before you got here? Anything strange? Like smells or seeing shadows or something?"

After zipping up her backpack and moving it to the floor, she chuckled lightly and sat on the couch as well. "Nope, I just… I was working in the cafe, went upstairs to take my break… and I fainted, then woke up here. It was just a usual day." She paused before she added, "Well, I mean, Danny ordered pancakes instead of waffles like they usually do, but other than that, no."

As Dean hummed and nodded, Sam sat down on the edge of his bed and said, "I mean, it had to have been some sort of spell, right? Something that could… transport someone from one place to another?"

"I can't see anything else that could do it." Dean paused and frowned. "This whole situation stinks."

Skylar's lips twitched and she joked, "I like you too, Dean."

He rolled his eyes and said, "I mean it's weird. _Very_ weird."

She nodded and her nose scrunched up as she chuckled. "I'm in a universe where my favourite TV show is real life. Yeah, I'd definitely file that under weird."

Dean smirked at that tidbit of information. "Aww, we're your favourite?"

She smiled in good humour as she caught Sam smiling as well and said, "Well, _one_ of my favourite shows, yeah."

"Who's your favourite out of us though? Me or Sam?" Dean grinned as Sam rolled his eyes at his brother's antics.

"Umm… Neither," she joked.

Dean put a hand up to his chest in mock shock. "I am offended."

She chuckled and they grinned.

"So… Can I ask who those people were in your photos?" Sam inquired with a curious yet innocent look.

She gave him a small smile and nodded. "Yeah. The first photo was my dad, mom, my sister Sasha, and me, then the one in the cafe was… was Hazel and Leah, friends of ours that let us stay in the apartment above said cafe and are… Well, they're like second moms in a way, I guess." She smiled slightly before she frowned. "And the last photo was with a friend."

They nodded and realised it didn't exactly seem like he was a friend anymore.

She shook her head and asked, "Anyway, is it okay if I go grab a shower? Kinda been a little while since my last one, and I don't want to _stink_ up the joint." She smirked at Dean and he rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, sure." Sam smiled and pointed over to the other door in the room.

She nodded, breathed out a quick thanks, picked up her backpack and headed for the bathroom. After she shut the door behind her, she leaned against it to take a breath. "Okay," she whispered to herself.

She placed her backpack on the sink then turned on the shower. After she got the temperature right, she opened up her backpack again to get out a clean set of clothes, her toothbrush, and a washcloth. Looking at herself in the mirror, she paused and frowned.

Thoughts about what happened to Pamela entered her mind again, and she sighed as she stared down at her hands on her backpack.

When the medics were getting Pamela out of her house on a stretcher, she had grabbed Skylar's arm.

" _Skylar, it's okay. You're going to be just fine. I can promise you that."_ She had said calmly.

Skylar placed her hand on her left arm, her eyes widening when she realised Pamela's fingertips brushed underneath her sleeve. "Shit…" _She knows… She knows…_ Her breathing picked up as that thought went around and around in her head, and her face scrunched up before she quickly tried to calm herself down. "Okay… Okay… It's okay… Just get a shower… Brush your teeth, then worry about it later…" she muttered under her breath.

There was only ever one person who knew about Skylar's self-harming.

Now Pamela knew.

And that kind of terrified her.

 _What did I expect… She's a psychic!_ She shook her head and sighed gently, before she got herself cleaned up.

* * *

As she came out of the bathroom, Sam and Dean were in the middle of reading, and the couch was now turned into a bed. They both looked up at her as she put her backpack down by the side of it and Dean's eyebrows furrowed. "That looks like it hurt."

Skylar flinched her arm back on instinct as her eyes widened slightly, but she stayed calm. "What?"

He looked up at her face from where he was looking at a pretty big scar that was partially visible. "Your collarbone. How'd you even do that?"

"Oh." She relaxed slightly but reached up to move the collar of her shirt closer to her neck on her right side, as she said, "A, uh, a car crash…" She looked away from Dean as she sat down on the makeshift bed next to him.

He quickly realised that was most likely why she was apprehensive about getting into Bobby's car. "Oh, sorry."

She shrugged and chuckled, but they could both tell it sounded a little fake. "Eh, it's no big deal." She put on her glasses and picked up a book, so she could help them get through them quicker… It was also an added bonus that it hid her face.

The brothers shared a look, small frowns on both their faces, but left it there.

After an order of pizzas and a lot of reading later, Skylar fell asleep with the book she was reading still in her hands.

* * *

"Skylar!" Dean's voice jolted her awake, and as she got her bearings, she noticed that the radio and TV were on. Just static. She looked up at Dean who was standing with his shotgun in hand, pointed towards the door. "Stay behind me, alright?"

"O-Okay." She quickly got up and did as he said.

The noise raised in pitch and Skylar covered her ears with her hands as Dean covered one of his, while still holding his gun in the other. A crack from above made them look up and they saw the mirrored ceiling starting to break.

Groaning in pain, Dean threw his gun on the floor and covered both of his ears. Skylar got closer to him as they both knelt down on the floor from the overwhelming sound, just before the windows smashed behind them. Dean looked up again, as Skylar's eyes shut tight, and he quickly shouted, "Down, now!" They both dropped to the ground, covering their heads with their arms, as glass shattered all around them.

Skylar could just about hear Dean screaming in pain, but instead of being in pain herself, she felt a faint tingling sensation just above her.

The door suddenly opened with Bobby on the other side shouting their names, and he rushed over to help them both up. They all reached the hallway just as the sound started to stop, and they stood there for a moment, staring into the room, as it faded away. "Come on, let's get on the road," Bobby said before him and Dean made their way down the hall. Skylar stood there for a second longer, with a distant confused look on her face, before quickly following after them.

* * *

"How you doin', kid?" Bobby asked Dean as he drove.

Patting his bloody ears with a rag, Dean said, "Aside from the church bells ringing in my head, peachy."

He reached in his pocket for his phone, as Bobby asked, "What about you, Skylar?"

"Huh? Oh. Yeah, I'm good." _A little in shock and weirded out, but… okay._ She wasn't bleeding from her ears like Dean, and the 'church bells' had faded a little while ago so that was a plus, but she had no idea what that… feeling above her was. She felt like she had felt something like that before, but she couldn't remember when.

"What are you doing?"

She looked up to see Dean was on the phone. She guessed Sam was on the other end, as he wasn't with them back at the motel. _Wait… Where is he?_ Her eyebrows furrowed as Dean spoke again.

"In my car?"

 _Burger… he went to get a burger._ As she heard the one-sided conversation, she was remembering the scene at the same time. _Jeez, this is weird._

"Well, uh, Bobby's back. We're going to grab a beer, and a soda for the kid obviously."

Skylar rolled her eyes at that last part, but her eyebrows pinched together as she felt that same tingling sensation on the tip of her nose. Almost as if someone had tapped it with their finger. She rubbed her nose after it went away, before dismissing it, thinking she was just imagining things and looked out the window. _It's just my paranoia again. It always is._

The phone call ended and Dean came up with a plan to take on Castiel… which Bobby wasn't too thrilled with. "This is a bad idea."

"Yeah, I couldn't agree more, but what other choice do we have?" Dean replied.

"We could choose life," Bobby said candidly. Skylar couldn't help but nod her head slightly in agreement. _I would rather live than be struck down by... whatever kind of monster this guy is. Wow… That is not a sentence I ever thought I'd think._

"Bobby, whatever this is, whatever it wants, it's after me and Skylar. That much we know, right? I've got no place to hide. I can either get caught with my pants down again, or we can make our stand."

Skylar grimaced. "I think I'd rather hide, like, even if it was in the sewers."

Dean simply scoffed and said, "Well tough luck, princess. Right now, you go where we go."

Her face scrunched up as she retorted weakly, "You're a… princess."

He smirked as Bobby said, "Dean, we could use Sam on this."

Dean simply waved off his concern, "Nah, he's better off where he is."

Skylar felt her stomach turn and she couldn't help but think he _would_ be better off with them. Though she couldn't understand why.

"Hey, I thought you said you stopped him last time?" Dean questioned, as he glanced back at Skylar.

She tilted her head and said, "Yeah, I… I don't remember how..."

He twisted in his seat to look at her properly and furrowed his brows at her. "What do you mean?"

She sighed in frustration before saying, "I know I said something, and then the noise stopped, but I have no idea what I said… Dammit, I think… I think I've got stuff that's… gone from my time here too. Just… little blank spaces…" She pouted as her jaw ticked. "Man, that sucks."

"Huh…" Dean stared at her, silently asking if she remembered their conversation about Hell, but when she gave him a blank look, a part of him was relieved. "Well… maybe… Maybe they'll come back to you at some point."

He gave her a small smile, but she stared out the window with a small frown on her face as she pondered. "Yeah… I mean… This, and the smashing windows and mirror at the motel seems familiar… so… Ugh, I don't know…" Placing her elbow on the door, she rested her head on her hand.

"Okay… I got another question…" She looked over at him to let him know she was listening, as he said, "That, uh, that headache of yours back at Bobby's… That wasn't just a headache was it."

Her eyes widened, thinking maybe she was going to get another one, but as the seconds passed without her answering apart from an, "Uhh…" Dean spoke again.

"It reminded me of when Sam had his visions… so, what? You getting visions too, or was it something else? Whatever messed up your memories…"

"This is gonna sound…" She trailed off as she realised nothing would probably top having someone from another universe fall from the sky, as Dean rose a brow and Bobby chuckled quietly. "I heard a voice. I know it was familiar to me at the time, but now… now I have no idea who it was."

Dean hummed then said, "What did it say?"

"That all of…" She gestured around her with a scrunched nose. "-this is real and that I'm 'here for a reason'." Shaking her head, she went to look out the window again as she huffed in slight amusement. "At least they apologised for the pain I guess."

"An apologetic… whatever, that says you're here for a reason…" He paused for a second, sharing a look with Bobby, who shrugged. He nodded and continued, "Okay, I'll bite. I'm guessing they didn't say what the reason is."

"Nope. Nope, they did not."

"Typical."

* * *

As they pulled up to an abandoned warehouse, Skylar couldn't help but feel a shudder go through her. "Man, this place is creepy," she muttered under her breath.

The fog in the night sky didn't help, neither did the feeling of suspense from whatever was about to happen in that building.

As they exited the car Bobby asked, "You ever shoot a gun before, Skylar?"

There was a pause before she shyly said, "Nerf guns…"

"Nerf g… Okay. Stay behind us. If push comes to shove, run," Dean told her as he opened the trunk.

With a teasing smile, she said, "Your faith in me amazes me, Dean."

"Hey, you're the one who said you'd rather hide," he counteracted.

A thoughtful look spread over her face as she nodded. "True. Oh! I do know a couple defence moves though! Leah taught me and Sasha just in case, you know." She smiled as she remembered Leah teaching them… and how she almost kicked Hazel in the face on accident.

Bobby nodded and smiled back as he grabbed a few spray paint cans from his trunk. "It's good that you know how to defend yourself, not saying we're letting you out of sight, but… It's always good to be cautious."

Skylar glanced around the area with a cautious expression as she placed her hands on the tops of her arms. "Can I do something? I mean, I'd just feel awkward standing in there while you guys are... setting up…"

"Well, can you use a spray paint can and spray what I say?" Bobby questioned with a brow raised.

She smiled and said, "Sure. I made some pretty good damn doodles in the margins of my books at school."

Dean snickered at that as he grabbed some weapons, and Bobby chucked one of the cans he had in his hands at her. She caught it, and they made their way inside.

"You're gonna start easy, basic pentagram on the floor over there. Make it a couple feet wide, okay?"

"Got it."

After she had finished that, and Bobby had filled in the spaces between each point with a symbol that were kind of difficult to describe, he started to describe another one as he got started on another one of his own.

Blinking a couple of times as her head slightly hurt, she winced.

"Skylar?"

"Yeah, I…" She shook her head and continued, "The symbol… it's got, like, an hourglass shape in the middle of it, right?"

His eyebrows pinched together as he nodded slightly. "Yeah… What-"

"It just kinda... appeared... in my head… Oh, this just gets weirder and weirder, huh?"

He looked at her in concern. "You okay?"

"Yeah, just a little weirded out." She gave him a barely-there smile before she got on with spraying.

A little while later, Bobby was finishing the last symbol. Skylar grinned at him as he stood up, feeling proud of herself for once at what she had accomplished. They walked over to Dean, who was sorting out the weapons he had laid out on a table; there was another table behind him that had other weapons, and a book or two.

Dean glanced around at Bobby's and Skylar's masterpiece and said, "That's a hell of an art project you've got going there."

Skylar put her hands in her hoodie pockets and glanced down at her converse, after Bobby took her spray can off her. _I kinda feel like a vandal… wait… this_ is _vandalism… uh, oops?_

"Traps and talismans from every faith on the globe." He placed the cans on a chair by the table then looked to Dean. "How you doin'?"

"Stakes, iron, silver, salt, knife." He pointed to each one as he spoke. "I mean, we're pretty much set to catch and kill anything I've ever heard of."

"This is still a bad idea," Bobby said worriedly.

Dean simply rolled his eyes. "Yeah, Bobby, I heard you the first ten times. What do you say we ring the dinner bell?"

Bobby walked over to the other table with a quiet huff and started the ritual, as Skylar and Dean watched.

She nervously looked around once he'd finished, but nothing happened.

Another little while later the three of them were sat on the tables, Skylar and Dean on one and Bobby on the other. Skylar noticed that Bobby was swinging his feet as they waited, and couldn't help but smile and shake her head slightly. Dean, on the other hand, looked bored out of his mind, spinning the demon knife on the table.

"You sure you did the ritual right?" Skylar smirked at Bobby's grumpy face at what Dean had asked, and chuckled quietly when he put the knife down as he said, "Sorry. Touchy, touchy, huh?" He began to swipe a hand over his face, but a loud sound from above them made him stop, and Skylar jump.

The panels of the roof were moving harshly, and the hunters quickly stood up with shotguns in their hands. Skylar stood up as well, staying behind them.

They all glanced around as Dean shouted over the noise, "Wishful thinking, but maybe it's just the wind."

"I'll believe it if you will," Skylar mumbled to herself.

And as if to dismiss Dean's sentence, the lightbulbs started to explode above them. Skylar flinched and hunched her shoulders to protect herself from the lights, as the wooden latch on the door broke in half, making the doors swing open.

A man in a trenchcoat casually strolled into the building as sparks flew, but not in the romantic sense.

When Skylar saw him through the flashing lights, her mind also flashed with quick images of him from the show. Her head didn't hurt this time around, but it did feel weird.

He kept walking towards them as the two hunters fired their guns, hitting him straight in his chest, but he didn't even flinch. He just kept walking. Skylar had put her hands over her ears and shut her eyes so she didn't see, but after Bobby and Dean stopped firing and glanced at each other when they realised the shotgun wasn't doing anything, she let her hands come down and opened her eyes. The hunters placed their guns on the tables as Skylar took a few steps back, even though she had the feeling that she shouldn't be afraid.

Dean grabbed the demon knife and hid it behind his back as he turned to face Castiel, who stopped in front of him with an almost peaceful look on his face. "Who are you?"

"I'm the one who gripped you tight and raised you from perdition," Castiel said with that gravelly voice of his, which made Skylar's eyes widen. _He said the thing! He said the thi- Why am I so happy that he said that?_

"Yeah. Thanks for that." Castiel nodded with a small smile on his face, before Dean stabbed him in the heart. Yet he simply looked down at the blade in his torso then back up to Dean, who looked shocked, but not as shocked as Skylar, who suddenly looked very pale.

Castiel pulled out the knife, making Skylar scrunch her face as he still looked straightfaced, then dropped it. It made a clang as it hit the ground and Skylar stared at it for a second or two, before Bobby swinging a crowbar stole her attention.

He had swung it at Castiel's head, but he simply grabbed it without even looking. He then turned to face Bobby and put his fingers on his forehead, making the older hunter collapse to the ground, unconscious.

"We need to talk, Dean. Alone."

There was a pause before he looked over to Skylar, and she coughed awkwardly, before saying, "Uh, I can just…" She pointed behind her back with her thumbs to gesture her leaving, but Castiel stopped her.

"Skylar Raineri."

"Uh… yes…" she mumbled out, definitely not nervous at all.

"You said my name when I tried to contact you earlier."

With furrowed brows, Dean mouthed the word 'contact' not knowing what he meant.

She remembered that she did, in fact, say his name, and looked at him with furrowed brows of her own. "Yes. Yeah, I… I did."

He looked just as confused as she did as he asked, "How did you know my name?"

Her foot began tapping and she hugged herself, as she smiled nervously. "Different universe. TV show. It's... kinda complicated."

He simply tilted his head, before he looked over to the table and walked over to it.

Dean closed the short distance between him and Skylar with an annoyed look, and gently tugged on her arm so she stood behind him then whispered, "For future reference, maybe _don't_ tell the monsters about how you're not from here, okay?"

She smiled awkwardly and nodded.

He nodded himself then bent down to check on Bobby, as Castiel skimmed over a book. "Your friend's alive."

Not getting up, Dean questioned him, "Who are you?"

"Castiel."

"Yeah, I figured that much, I mean what are you?"

He looked over to him and stated, "I'm an Angel of the Lord."

Skylar's eyes widened and felt stuck to the spot she was standing. _Angel! He's a freakin' Angel! Holy… Well, Holy._

Dean slowly rose up off the ground as he said, "Get the hell out of here. There's no such thing."

"This is your problem, Dean. You have no faith." Castiel took a few steps away from the table and lightning struck outside, letting them see two shadows emerge on the back wall, that seemed to be attached to his back. Wings. His _Angel_ wings.

They faded away as darkness quickly took over the room again, and Skylar whispered in awe of what she just saw, "That's even more awesome in real life…" Dean glanced at her with that annoyed look again, and she looked down at her shoes awkwardly. "Sorry."

Dean sighed before he nodded slightly at Castiel. "Some Angel you are. You burned out that poor woman's eyes."

Skylar winced, and Castiel's head dropped down as if in regret. "I warned her not to spy on my true form. It can be… overwhelming to humans, and so can my real voice. But you already knew that." He glanced between them, pausing on Skylar for a second longer as his eyebrows pinched together.

"You mean the gas station and the motel. That was you _talking_?" Castiel nodded casually. "Buddy, next time, lower the volume."

"That was my mistake. Certain people, special people, can perceive my true visage. I thought you would be two of them. I was wrong."

Dean looked him up and down as he said, "And what visage are you in now, huh? What, holy tax accountant?"

"This? This is… a vessel," Castiel answered, looking down and moving his trenchcoat a little.

"You're possessing some poor bastard?" Dean questioned incredulously.

"He's a devout man, he actually prayed for this."

Scenes of Castiel's vessel flashed by Skylar's eyes, along with his wife and daughter. _Jimmy Novak… and Claire…_ She blinked a few times in quick succession, and Castiel tilted his head at her as he narrowed his eyes ever so slightly.

Dean didn't notice her blinking, but he did take a step in front of her. "Uh huh, you know it might've been easier to show up like this the first time instead of all the burning bush crap."

"Finding a human vessel, durable enough to contain me, it's not easy."

Dean's head tilted to the side momentarily before he said, "I have the same problem with women."

Skylar's face scrunched up and she shook her head. "Dude…"

Getting back on the topic at hand Dean continued, "Look pal, I'm not buying what you're selling, so who are you really?"

Castiel tilted his head again. "I told you."

"Right. And why would an _Angel_ rescue me from Hell?"

Castiel took another few steps forward, so he was standing in front of Dean. "Good things do happen. Dean."

"Not in my experience."

Castiel searched his eyes for a moment as he asked, "What's the matter?" He paused, before he realised. "You don't think you deserve to be saved."

Dean narrowed his eyes at him. "Why'd you do it?"

"Because God commanded it." He paused before he continued, "Because we have work for you."

Dean stared at him before he asked, "What… What does that even mean?"

Castiel simply said, "You'll find out soon enough."

Dean went to say something else, but a noise outside distracted him and he turned his head away for only a second. Castiel looked at Skylar curiously, as if he wanted to say something, but he obviously decided against it as he disappeared into thin air, leaving nothing behind but the sound of a flap of wings.

Dean faced the sound, and furrowed his brows as he searched the room with his eyes. He looked over at Skylar and saw she looked as freaked out as he felt.

Skylar put a hand up to her head and let out a deep breath as her legs wobbled minutely. "I think I might've peed myself a little," she whispered to herself.

"What?" Dean asked, she wasn't sure if he heard her or not, but at that moment she really didn't care.

She frustratedly gestured her hands to where Castiel had just been standing. "Dude. Angel. An actual… _Freakin' Angel!_ "

He rolled his eyes and said, "That was not an Angel."

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, he was… is… whatever," she said flippantly.

He looked at her suspiciously, before he shook his head. "You don't know that. I mean your memories are messed up, right? Trust me, Skylar, it's just saying it is when it's not."

She frowned as her jaw ticked. "He really is, Dean. When he came through that door I had… _flashes_ of my memory back. Just… images of him and stuff. It was weird. Like a sci-fi movie or something…" She shook her head to get back on track, "I know for a fact that he _is_ an Angel."

Skylar could tell he looked torn for a second, but his face went blank as he said, "No. No, he's not. He can't be, okay?" She opened her mouth to say something, but Bobby began to stir and their attention quickly went to him. "Bobby. Bobby, hey."

They helped him get back on his feet as he got his bearings, and glanced around the place. "Where'd he go?"

"He flew away."

"He's not an Angel," Dean said sternly.

Bobby's eyebrows furrowed and he faced Skylar. "Angel? You serious?"

She nodded, to the disapproval of Dean. "Uh huh, wings and everything. Well, the shadows of his wings, but still."

"A lot of monsters have wings, or can make it look like it has wings. Right, Bobby?" Dean said, wanting someone to say something that made sense.

"Yeah…" He looked between the two before he said, "That would explain why nothing worked on 'im though."

Dean let out a harsh breath and paced away from them, as he almost growled out, "It was not an Angel." He took a deep breath and put a hand up to his face in frustration.

Skylar thought about how his mom always said that Angels were watching over him, and how he couldn't believe that after all that he'd been through in his life so far, and frowned as she looked down. "You're probably right, Dean." He turned his head to the side so he saw her from the corner of his eye, as she continued, "I mean, the... 'memory flashes' or whatever you wanna call them aren't exactly evidence considering I come from a different reality. It could be completely different here. _And_ it's not like I have any experience in hunting."

He turned to face her fully and she smiled at him comfortingly, at least she hoped it was anyway.

Bobby started to gather up some things on the tables, as he said, "Either way, let's get out of here, huh?"

Dean nodded reluctantly, as Skylar helped Bobby out. "Yeah."

After getting the weapons, books and spell stuff back in Bobby's trunk, they headed back to the motel. And as they got out of the car, Sam came down the steps with a couple of bags in his hands. "Hey! I went up to our room and-"

"Yeah, I'll explain everything on the way back to Bobby's. Come on," Dean interrupted, then headed over to the Impala.

Sam passed Skylar her backpack which she thanked him for, before he headed over to the car as well.

"Skylar," Bobby called to get her attention and nodded to his own car.

She glanced back at the Impala with furrowed brows, as Sam threw his duffle bag into the trunk, before she shook her head and hopped into Bobby's car.

* * *

 **Obrigado tanto, Marryzinha Black! Fico feliz que gostou, eu sou meio exigente. Vai demorar um pouco para que eles saibam da Skylar cortando-se, há razões para isso, mas isso não significa que eles não ajudá-la sem perceber. :) Vou tentar postar regularmente e, mais uma vez, obrigado! Espero que goste dos capítulos que tenho planejado para o futuro.** **:D I hope I said that correctly. If I didn't I'm sorry! D:**

 **Thank you, PrincessMagic! _You're_ great! :D**

 **Thank you, Mayumi Yuki! I hope this chapter cleared up the whole memory thing. She _will_ remember stuff from the show, but only if that certain moment has happened, or Chuck decides to show her something, or a memory from the show actually _breaks_ through. I personally love when a story makes you try to figure things out and stuff, (a little bit of mystery and whatnot) so I'm trying to do that. Hopefully, I'm doing okay on that front. :) I'm glad you're liking it so far! And I hope you'll like what I've got in store for future chapters, and yeah, so many ideas! Like, I have things in mind for seasons 12 and 13... I know that I probably won't even make it that far, or if I do it'll be _years_ in the future, but ideas just kind of kept coming for a while and... yeah. ****Ideas are awesome. *Wiggles eyebrows* :3**

 **Also, to add to that last part, when I do get to a certain point in the fic I might possibly skip ahead a little sometimes, so I can get to the future parts that I really want to do. I have pretty much everything planned up until partway through season 6 (That's another reason why updates are so scarce, I've been planning like mad), a little (and I mean only a little) of season 8, then a bit of season 11, and a _lot_ for seasons 12 and 13 so... yeah... might skip ahead at some points. ;) That's a long way away though so, *Shrug emoji* I'll let you guys know about that stuff in the future. Promise. :3**

 **One last thing; I haven't seen season 14, (as it hasn't aired over here in 'jolly old' England just yet) so... I don't know. If there is anything that is similar in that season to this/future chapters it is purely coincidence, and if what I'm writing, like how Skylar got there etc. doesn't make sense with what is happening in season 14 then... eh, that's a future me problem. I have, unfortunately, seen a couple of spoilers, so I know a little bit about what happened and such in the earlier episodes, but I also have no idea at the same time... so yeah... I don't know what I'm saying anymore... It's late... I'm tired... Goodnight...**

 **See you lovelies tomorrow! :D**


	5. Chapter 4-5: Chris Tettrek

**(Quick Warning: In this chapter, quite a bit more than the others, self-harming is mentioned as this is just after the crash, and that's when she started. So if you wish to skip it, please do. In the next chapter, I can do a short 're-cap' of this one without the self-harm if you'd like. I don't describe her actually hurting herself, but it's referenced a lot, so I wanted to put another little warning at the beginning of this chapter to be sure)**

 **Hi!** **So... I thought about this a little while ago and I wanna know what you guys think. I have a Tumblr, which is a mix match of reblogs of things that I like and such, but it also has things to do with my oc's, (and just writing stuff in general) and I was thinking... since I post a new chapter every... _*cough cough* 'few months', *cough cough*_ or so... that I could maybe make another one dedicated to ****answering some questions from you guys, (if you have them obviously) post some things** **about this fic, ('Things' meaning random info about my oc's that possibly won't make it into the fic and stuff) post about other fic ideas or original writing stuff, reblog things that remind me of the fic/my oc's etc. to make up for the fact that I barely upload chapters. (Also, it would maybe help me get out my idea's of things I have planned for waaaayyy in the future that I possibly won't get to) Idk. It's up to you guys as I kinda feel a little snobbish at even asking it for some reason, (Anxiety, you son of a bitch!) but yeah, if that's something you're interested in then please let me know. :) I'm not the most sociable person, and I feel like I'm awkward even in the most simple of circumstances, but hey, maybe that would help? Again, I have no idea. I'm just scraping by on life, dude. I just meme, write and am an anxiety-filled mess. Please help me. ;(**

 ** _*Mutters under breath*_ _Hey, I'm Sammy, and I never learned how to talk/blog/interact with people._**

 **Heh... I'm sorry, I'll get on with the chapter now.**

* * *

Chris Tettrek. 5ft8. Hazel eyes. Short, fluffy-topped, sandy blonde hair. Looked to be around Skylar's age. Usually wore shirts with t-shirts underneath, jeans, boots, and a pair of thick-rimmed glasses. Skylar's best friend... until he left and she never saw him again.

About a week after Sasha died, she bumped into him in the local library.

Literally.

Just like some cliché movie…

* * *

Skylar had gotten out of the hospital on the 16th of August with minimal injuries. Physically speaking anyway. The collision had taken a mental toll on her, as losing her sister had been like losing a part of herself.

When a doctor came into her hospital room to tell her that Sasha died, she didn't want to believe it. She couldn't... Yet a small part of her felt like deep down she already knew. She didn't even say anything after the doctor finished speaking; she just stared at him blankly until he left the room, then she cried.

She continued to not talk until she met _him_. Even when Hazel and Leah tried to get through to her, or spoke about the funeral arrangements, she didn't say a single word. She just blankly stared at nothing, not taking in anything they were saying. She didn't want to.

On the day of the funeral, she was still silent. Just like at her mother's funeral, she didn't even cry. She sat there in silence. Barely listening to what people were saying and not reacting in the slightest.

She felt so drained of everything.

She swore she felt a hand on her shoulder during the wake, it felt more like a calming energy of some sorts than an actual hand, but when she looked up from her combat boots to see who it was… no one was there. Yet the hand stayed. The 'thumb' rubbed her shoulder a few times, as if they were apologising or trying to comfort her. She felt her eyes start to tear up, but blinked them away as she quickly stared at her feet once more. _I'm just imagining things... I have to be… It's just my paranoia._

When the trio eventually got back to the cafe, she snuck up to the apartment and locked the door behind her. She sighed deeply and leaned heavily against it, trying to let the stress fade away even if just a little, as her eyes closed for a brief second. When they opened, her eyesight drifted to the couch, where Sasha's backpack sat.

Lip trembling as she blinked away tears that were threatening to fall, she cursed under her breath before she pushed herself off the door and headed over to it, stumbling on the way. Her hands shook as she hesitated, wondering if she should just put it in Sasha's room or not.

After a moment of thought she quickly zipped it open and what she saw made the tears come back full force. It was hard for her to catch a breath as she crouched down on the ground, holding onto the backpack like she was hanging on for dear life. Her right leg and shoulder hurt like hell as she did so, but she didn't care. At that moment she didn't care about herself at all.

Inside the backpack was the book Sasha got at the library that day.

The book that she would never be able to read.

After a while of it sitting on a shelf of the DVD/bookcase in the living room, she took a walk to the library. She decided to return the book as it was just going to be a constant reminder of what happened if she didn't, and she definitely wasn't going to read it.

She took a deep breath as she stood outside the doors, before she willed her feet into moving. As she entered the building she looked down at the book in her hands; it had a pale green sticky note on it. She had written down what she wanted to say because, in her mind, if she said it aloud then it would all be real... and she wasn't ready for that yet.

Her left shoulder abruptly hit someone else's and her head whipped around to see who it was. It was someone she had never seen before.

Warm hazel eyes stared into her cold blue ones as the stranger apologised, "Sorry, wasn't looking where I was going. Head in the clouds." He chuckled quietly, being thoughtful of the people around them, but she didn't respond. She simply nodded once and moved away from him.

The stranger gazed at her as she walked away, confliction evident in his eyes, and he hesitated before he continued his way to the exit.

Skylar looked over at the desk, noticing the librarian wasn't there, and sighed in relief. She placed the book on the wooden surface before hastily leaving the building, but not before taking one last glance at the place.

They used to go there every Wednesday so Sasha could pick up another book and/or take back the ones she had at home. Now though... Now she was going to avoid the place like the goddamn plague.

As she walked down the street an older man, who was leaning against the side of a building, called out to her, "Hey there, that's a nice necklace you got." She recognised the voice as a previous customer from the cafe, who also happened to be a major creep and had been kicked him out multiple times in the past by Leah, but ignored him as she continued to walk back home. "Whoa, whoa, hang on a minute." He stopped her by standing in front of her, but she simply looked out at the road and buildings opposite as she tightened her jaw. "We were just starting a conversation." The man gave her a gross smirk, and she felt if she looked up at him she'd probably vomit on the spot, that or try to punch his lights out. She tried to go around him but he stopped her again by grabbing her shoulder.

"Hey!" The stranger from before appeared beside her and tore the guys hand off of her shoulder. "How about you leave her alone, huh? Can't you tell she doesn't want to talk to you?" he questioned calmly. Though if Skylar looked in his eyes, she would've seen a storm.

The creep winced and cradled his hand, before he bared his teeth and opened his mouth to spew something out, but as he glanced at something behind the two in front of him… he suddenly looked downright terrified. "Whatever," he muttered quickly, before he spun on his heel and rushed off.

The stranger turned to face Skylar, his eyes a lot softer now that he looked at her, as she took a glance over her shoulder to see what the guy looked so scared of. She couldn't see anything apart from a cop casually looking at something across the street.

He caught her attention as he asked, "You okay?"

She could tell that he genuinely meant it. She nodded once again and muttered a quick, "Thanks." He smiled at her gently, but she didn't notice as she walked away.

A week later, she started to work downstairs in the cafe again. She figured that she should at least have something to keep her busy, even if the regulars kept on saying how sorry they were about her sister. She knew they weren't, that they were just saying it because they felt they had to. At least that's what her anxiety told her... among other things that started to enter her head… though some of those things had been there for quite a while already.

That day wasn't so busy, only a couple customers in as it was a Tuesday. It was never busy on a Tuesday. She had no idea _why_ it was particularly empty on that day every week, but it was just one of those things she guessed.

She was too busy staring down at the counter, fiddling with Sasha's necklace while thinking about things she probably shouldn't think about, to notice the stranger walk in. Leah, however, did.

"Hi, what can I get you?" she greeted him with a grin, though not as full of joy as it usually would be, as he made his way to the counter.

He gave the redhead a grin of his own, glancing over at Skylar, who was still staring into space, as he did. "Hey, um, I'm thinking... one of your finest fudge sundae surprises, please," he said as he took a quick peek at one of the spare menus.

"Coming right up." Leah gave him another grin and took a quick glance of her own at Skylar, worry swimming in her eyes, before she left to go into the kitchen behind them to tell her wife his order.

There was a moments pause as the stranger observed Skylar, thinking of the best approach to talk to her, before he decided to greet her casually, "Hey." Her head tilted up to look at him as she came out of her thoughts, and he could see the hint of surprise in her eyes. "I, um, I don't know if you recognise me, but we bumped into each other in the library last week?" She nodded before she glanced away. He bit his lip nervously before he asked, "Is everything okay? You seem... kinda downtrodden, putting it lightly." He chuckled softly and wondered if she would too, but she didn't.

Leah and Hazel were watching this one-sided conversation through the serving window, intrigued and wondering if she would say something.

They were worried about her, to say the least. When Sasha died it was like everything that made Skylar, Skylar, had been torn to shreds and all that was left was an empty shell. They had no idea how to help her or what to say. Whenever they did say anything regarding Sasha or getting help, she'd just walk away or ignore them completely. They didn't blame her though. They couldn't. They just had no idea what to do apart from letting her get through it on her own, and try to help where they could if she ever asked.

Skylar looked up at the guy and could tell that his heart was in the right place. Even though she felt the way she did, she didn't want to be rude to this guy who was genuinely curious and wanted to know if she was okay or not. She opened her mouth before closing it again, then whispered, "I'm fine. Just a bad day." Hazel abruptly dropped a glass at the surprise of hearing her actually speak for the first time since the accident, and Skylar jumped at the sound before she quickly said, "I'm gonna go for my break now." Leah had already bent down to pick up the shards as Hazel stood where she was, with a proud yet heartbroken smile on her face.

"O...Okay, flower," Hazel just about managed to get out, as Skylar flew through the door behind her that led up to her apartment.

Chris stared at the door that Skylar left through, but quickly brought his attention to the two women in the kitchen. "Do you need any help back there?"

Hazel shook her head with a small smile on her face as she looked over at him. "Oh, no, it's fine. I'll... I'll have that sundae out in a minute, okay?" He gave her a warm smile before she turned around to get started on the dessert, a few pieces of her light blonde hair that had fallen out of her bun swaying with her.

Leah walked through the door to the counter, after she finished throwing the shards of glass away, and gave him an inquisitive look. "That's the first words we've heard her say in a while... You must be something special, mister," a hint of her Australian accent coming through ever so slightly as she spoke.

He let out a short chuckle. "Not me, ma'am."

Her shoulders slumped and she grimaced. "Ugh, don't call me that. It makes me feel old."

He smirked as he said, "You don't look a day over twenty-two."

"Ha! And a charmer too. You hear that, honey?" Leah turned to the side so she could see Hazel blush at the nickname.

Even after being together for twenty years Hazel still couldn't handle the affection Leah gave her. She had gotten more used to it as the years went on, but she still blushed at every name, or faint touch when Leah went to grab something, or whenever she held her hand and placed a kiss on the top of it. She was always super shy, but Leah made her feel like she could do or be anything if she was next to her. It was the same with Leah though. She was never shy, but just being around Hazel made her feel like the luckiest person in the world, hell, the universe. And whenever she saw her blush and smile that cute smile of hers, she fell in love, again and again, every time.

"Mhmm. I may be a year older than you, but my hearing isn't going yet," Hazel called from the kitchen.

Leah grinned as she walked back into the kitchen. "Oh, hush, you're only thirty-seven, cutie-pie." She gave her wife a peck on the cheek and Hazel blushed again, swatting her away with her hands.

"Not in the kitchen," she giggled out.

Chris smiled gently at the couple, before he looked to the door again and it faded.

When Skylar reached upstairs, the beginning of a panic attack greeted her. The breaking of glass made her shut down almost completely and her thoughts, once again, turned to the crash. She slid down the door and clutched her legs tight to her chest, then rested her head against them as she whimpered. Her thoughts began to overwhelm her, and she finally snapped.

She hesitated before she raised up from her place on the floor and tiptoed across to the kitchen, worrying that either Hazel or Leah would catch what she was about to do. She slowly grabbed a knife from the block on the counter, as tears slipped down her face, and then stared at the knife in her hands with empty eyes, as her breathing continued to come fast and heavy. She clenched her eyes shut as more tears fell, before she sprinted across the room into the bathroom, and locked the door behind her.

Over the next couple of weeks or so, Chris came back, ordered one of Hazel's delicious treats, then sat in a booth by himself. Leah noticed over the days how his eyes would often drift over to Skylar with worry laced in them, and one day decided to have a chat.

She walked over to his booth and gave him her usual smile which he returned, before she sat in the seat opposite him. She simply stared at him with her head resting in a hand as her elbow rested on the table, and narrowed, curious, forest green eyes. He slowly swallowed the bite of toffee cheesecake he had taken, before he rose a brow at her. "Can I help you?"

"Nope," she said, popping the 'p'. "But you _can_ help my daughter." Leah never said that the girls were her daughters to their faces, but you could count on her that she would in front of other people. "You're the only person that she's said anything to in the past month or so and because of that... I feel like you could help her. Sky…" she trailed off, wondering if she should trust a complete stranger with the information she was about to tell him, before she glanced back at Skylar and her pale, distant, face.

That was the only encouragement she needed.

She knew that Skylar would never be the same after what happened, but she just wanted her to have some sense of happiness in her life again.

Leah turned to face Chris again and explained the situation, "She and her sister were in a car incident and… and Sasha didn't make it... So I'm sure you can now understand why she's... as closed off as she is." She paused with a frown, before she continued with a small amount of teasing to her tone, "I'm also sure you want to get to know her, as you've decided to come in here every day since you've met her." She raised a thin brow with a hint of a smirk on her face, as Chris simply stared at her in part shock.

He couldn't understand what she saw in him to trust him enough with that information. He quickly let out a quiet chuckle as his face relaxed. "You make it sound like I'm a stalker. I'm not that. Promise. I just…"

Her smirk only grew as she said, "Really like Hazel's deserts?"

He gave her a small grin as he nodded. "They _are_ great."

Leah ran a hand through her hair as she glanced back to the kitchen and agreed with him, "Very true."

Chris' face became solemn as he noticed Skylar scratching her left arm with a distant look in her eyes. "Also... I just wanted to see if... if I could help, but…" His eyes narrowed slightly as she continued to scratch longer than someone would when they had an itch, but Leah quickly stole his attention.

"You don't know how to go about it?"

He nodded again and said, "Yeah... I get the feeling she's not exactly that trusting to strangers."

She nodded herself and chuckled softly. "That feeling would be right... But... I think she's taken a shine to you."

His eyebrows drew together as he asked, "How do you mean?"

She simply smiled. "I mean that whenever that bell above the door dings she glances up waiting to see if it's you. Then when she does see you, she doesn't look back up at the door. Skylar…" Leah let out a soft sigh as a frown took over her face. "She's never been a sociable person. In the almost eight years that I've known her, she hasn't ever had a proper friend. Apart from me, Hazel and... and Sasha, she hasn't had anyone else that she's been close to. I think that she could use a friend… especially now."

He paused in thought, before he joked, "Is it too early to call you my second mom?"

"Yeah, I wouldn't go that far, bud." He chuckled, and she gave him a grin. Leah stood up and gave his shoulder a quick pat, before she headed towards the counter.

Chris sighed deeply as he looked back over at Skylar. She was just standing there, slouched over, and staring at her necklace. He didn't like seeing her so… devastated. He didn't like seeing _anyone_ upset, unless they were assholes, but she was right there. And he wanted to help her. In any way he could. He nodded to himself before he got up from his seat, and headed over to her.

"Hey," he greeted, as he casually leaned against the counter. She glanced at him and her lips twitched up into a small smile to let him know she heard him. He grinned at her as it was the first smile of hers he'd seen, no matter how small. "Busy today, huh?" She looked around and raised a brow at him. There were hardly any people in the cafe.

His grin simply widened.

Leah smiled from her place at the register. "Hey, Sky, how about you go on your break now?" Skylar looked at both of them hesitantly, before she realised Leah set her up. She shook her head frustratedly, as she turned and opened the door that led upstairs.

Once the door shut, Chris looked over at Leah. "She's taken a shine to me, huh?"

"Go after her?" she asked desperately.

He rose a brow as he said, "Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, a complete stranger in her apartment…"

Leah sighed before she softly spoke, "Yeah, well... She won't talk to us… I just want to see her smile again."

He stared at her for a couple of seconds before he said, "Okay. I'll see what I can do."

Skylar was on the couch breathing heavily, but not in a panic attack just yet, as he opened the door. He expected her to look over at him, but it was like she didn't even hear the door open. He frowned before he took a few steps forward. "Hi." She turned to face him in shock and he quickly said, "I'll go back down if you want me to. I just wanted to see if you were okay... The answer's obvious I know."

Her voice was croaky as she looked back down at the coffee table in front of her, "Why do you care? You don't even know me."

He took another couple of steps so he was near the couch, and gave her a small smile that she didn't see. "No... But I'd like to."

She held back a bitter laugh as she muttered, "You really wouldn't."

Chris frowned, and quietly sighed out his nose. He didn't like it when people talked so little of themselves, especially when he knew that people were amazing creatures overall. "Maybe I can see who's right? You don't even have to say anything if you don't want to. But if you do want to... I'm a pretty good listener." He gave her another small smile as she glanced at him, and he could see her relax a little.

She quickly looked back down at the table, and he followed her eyes to see she was staring at a photo.

A photo of herself and Sasha, in a park, mid-swing.

He swallowed a lump in his throat and bit his lip nervously. "That Sasha?" She tensed up and he instantly regretted asking. "Leah… Leah told me what happened." A tear started to slip down her cheek, but she quickly rubbed it away with her hand. He frowned before he continued, "You're probably sick of hearing it at this point, but… I'm so sorry."

She heard how genuine he sounded.

"I…" Chris tightly closed his eyes, and took a deep breath, as he contemplated whether or not he should say what he was about to say. He opened them, and spoke before he changed his mind, "I know what it's like to lose a sibling…" Skylar rose her head at that. " _Siblings_ in my case... Not in the way you have, but... family is family... and I know it's hard to lose the people you are most close to…" She glanced back down at the photo and nodded slightly. "And I know that people need other people to help them with that loss... Hazel and Leah _are_ there for you, but if you feel like you can't go to them, I'll be here... In the booth that I'm usually at…" She didn't look back up at him, so he decided to leave, but as he took a step backwards her voice stopped him.

"How…" She took a deep breath. "How did you lose your siblings? How do you…" She looked up at him, and he could see how broken and desperate she was. "How do you cope without them?"

"Well..." He motioned to the couch and when she nodded, he sat down on the opposite side, with a good amount of space between them. He almost felt as if he was confronting a small, scared, injured animal. "One's in jail... The other two are... someplace that I don't think I could ever go back to... and…" He thought for a moment before he said, "I distract myself, I guess... I move around a lot and do... odd jobs now and again... Try to help people sometimes... Other times... Well... I distract myself…" He gave her a warm smile, as she looked down at her hands.

"Are you going to be moving again soon?"

His smile widened at how she tried to sound nonchalant, but what came out was a nervous croak. He pretended he didn't notice as he said, "No... I don't think so…" She took a look at him as he glanced around her apartment. He had an appraising expression on his face, despite the fact that the washing up hadn't been done in a few days and the place, just in general, was a mess, unlike how it usually would've been. "It's nice here, and the food downstairs is pretty darn good." She chuckled slightly, but stopped in shock as she rose a hand to her throat. Chris grinned. "And you haven't even heard my best material yet."

She let a small smile make its way on her face, and whispered, "Thank you…"

He gave a small smile back and said, "No problem, Skylar."

She suddenly realised that she didn't know his name and awkwardly asked, "What's... Um... What's your name?"

He smirked at her as he let out a chuckle. "Heh, brought me up to your apartment and you don't even know my name."

She blushed at the insinuation and silently cursed Leah. "You're the one who came up here, it's not like I invited you."

He playfully winked at her. "Chris Tettrek."

Skylar rose a brow at the name. "Tettrek?"

He rose one of his own eyebrows at her, as he asked with a hint of amusement in his voice, "You got a problem with my name, sun ray?"

She scrunched her nose up at the nickname but smiled anyway. "No... Just sounds like a weird crossover of Tetris and Star Trek."

He blanked for a minute before he grinned at her. "And here I thought I was the comedian." She smiled a proper smile, for the first time in well over a month, and looked away from him as he continued to stare at her with a grin.

A few months later of him popping in the cafe, and a little while after her 18th birthday, Skylar decided to make a couple changes.

Chris came in as he usually did, but stopped short as he saw Skylar behind the counter. He looked over at Leah, who was holding back a laugh at his face, and asked, "Who's the newbie?"

Skylar simply rolled her eyes. "Ha ha. You're hilarious."

He grinned as he waltzed over to the counter and leaned against it. "You finally said the two words I wanted to hear most."

"Order up!" Hazel abruptly shouted out, and Chris hummed.

"Apart from those two words," he said seriously.

Skylar laughed before she said, "You can go on up if you want, I'll be there in a minute."

Chris tilted his head as he held back a smile. "So, we're not gonna talk about the haircut and tealness?"

She smiled and lifted her head proudly. "Not the only change. I got another tattoo as well."

"Ooh! Where?" He wiggled his eyebrows and grinned at her.

She grinned as she said, "It's on my wrist, you cheeky bugger."

He chuckled as he gave her a playful wink, before he headed upstairs.

As he entered her apartment, he noticed the bathroom door was ajar, and his good mood suddenly turned sour. Over the past few months he was around, he noticed a couple of things about Skylar. Things that worried him. How she scratched at her left arm for longer than she would any other part of her body. How her eyes went a little distant as Hazel chopped up food. How some days she looked so pale and had little to no energy. Easy things to miss. But he saw them. There was just never a good time to bring it up. And he didn't know for definite as he had never caught her, but…

He slowly moved over to the bathroom door and opened it fully, to see that his theory was correct. "Oh, Skylar…" There, on the bathroom sink, was a razor blade. He took a breath before heading out of the bathroom, closing the door to how it was before, and slumped down on the couch. He ran a hand through his hair as he frowned, and thought about how to talk to her. It definitely wasn't going to be an easy conversation. And he didn't want to scare her off from talking to him about it.

He wasn't angry. Not at her anyway. He was mad at himself for not noticing sooner. Not being able to stop it before it started. But it had, and he knew enough to know that for someone to stop self-harming was difficult. It was like a drug. And the worst part was that she felt like she deserved the pain. He knew she felt like that. He could see it in her eyes when, on the very rare occasion, she opened up and talked about Sasha. He could tell that she blamed herself for her death. He knew that she shouldn't because it wasn't her fault. It-

He got dragged out of his thoughts as he heard Skylar come through the door and when she turned to look at him with a beaming smile… he couldn't. He couldn't have that conversation right now. Later. They'd talk about it later.

Chris smiled at her, as she sat down on the couch next to him, and asked, "Okay. What's on the agenda today?"

She smirked at him and squinted her eyes slightly. "Re-match."

"Ooh, that sounded feisty." He relaxed back into his seat as he smirked back at her.

"I take that game very seriously, the only person I've ever lost to is Leah. I am not losing to you."

He grinned cheekily. "You already have though."

Her face fell and she stated, "You were cheating."

"You're a sore loser."

"You were tickling me!"

Chris chuckled as he said, "You never said there were rules... and I still won while doing that so…"

"Re. Match." She poked his chest to get the point across and he smiled.

"Okay... If you want to lose again, sun ray, then I am all for it."

Skylar got up from the couch with a scoff. " _I'm_ not going to lose." She walked over to the TV to set up the game console and grab a couple of controllers.

"When I win you are _so_ giving me a massage as a prize." He gave her a playful wink as she glanced at him over her shoulder.

"Pfft, in your dreams. When I win, you are getting me some pie," she stated as she pointed a finger at him.

He laughed quietly before he said, "So, that's settled, I win, massage." She rolled her eyes as she stood up. "You win, pie."

"Mhmm." She passed him a controller and sat back down, putting one leg under the other. "And you've got to make it yourself."

He scratched his chin, pretending to think it over, before he nodded. "Deal."

She rose a brow and said, "Rule one. No tickling."

He rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically as Skylar held back a smile at his antics. "Fine."

She got that pie, and it was pretty darn good.

Over the next couple of days, Chris kept a close eye on Skylar. He hadn't talked about her hurting herself yet, but he planned to. He just… didn't know how he was going to start that conversation. It turned out he didn't need to, as at about three in the morning from his place on the couch, he heard Skylar's door open and her feet pause, before he heard a small sob, and they started walking over to the bathroom. He froze up, as he realised the chances of just needing to pee were low, and another stifled sound came from her. He winced before he sat up as she opened the door. "Skylar."

She jumped at him calling her name and turned to face him with wide, red, puffy eyes, before they darted away. "Uh, hey, I just-"

She was cut off as he suddenly wrapped her up in a hug. "Don't. Please," he whispered shakily.

She swallowed a lump in her throat, as she hesitantly hugged him back. "Wha- What do you-"

"You know what I mean…" He held onto her a little bit tighter, as he rested his head on her shoulder, and she shivered. "I'm not mad, sunray. I promise you. Please, just… Come and sit on the couch and talk to me?"

She whimpered, and tightened her grip on him, as she let her tears flow. He rubbed her back and whispered comforting things to her, as he placed a gentle kiss on the top of her head.

A little while later as they sat on the couch still hugging, Chris broke the silence, "You're my best friend, Skylar, and I haven't had one of those in a long time."

Her eyes widened and she pulled away ever so slightly to look at him. She'd never had a best friend before. The only people who came close were Sasha, Hazel and Leah. They were her family. But she had never had a friend outside of them. "We've only known each other for half a year."

He smiled at her gently and rubbed her shoulder reassuringly. "I know that you're a kind, wonderful person that wants to help others. Your smart and you always try to see the best in people… You smile and laugh at my jokes, which is always a plus…" To prove his point she smiled at him as she blushed, not used to people telling her that kind of stuff. "You make me feel like I'm actually being listened to for once. And I know that you've been through a lot of crap… You… You hurting yourself is evidence of that." He didn't miss the guilt in her eyes before she looked down. "Hey, it's okay. Just…" He tilted her head up gently to look at him with the hand that wasn't around her shoulders, wiped away a stray tear, then let it rest by his side again. "Promise me that when you do feel like doing it again... Call me? I'll come over and we can talk, or just watch a movie or something. I like to think I'm pretty good at distractions." He smiled at her as she nodded with watery eyes.

She chuckled softly before she sincerely said, "Thank you, Chris."

He simply winked at her with a warm smile. "C'mere." He pulled her back into a hug and she leaned her head on his shoulder, smiling contently.

Over the months Chris helped her a lot. By being there when she felt like she needed to hurt herself. By making her laugh and smile. By helping her pass her test for her Grandad's old motorbike that was kept in a lockup for years. By just being a friend.

She felt like things had come to a semblance of 'normal'. She really appreciated him and their time together. She just hoped that she was doing enough to be a good friend for him.

She had no need to worry there.

Unknowingly, Skylar was helping Chris and his own metaphorical demons. Just being around her made the weight, that was usually on his shoulders, lift and fly away. She made him genuinely laugh and smile, something that was a rare occurrence before she entered his life. And helping her, helped him.

She also helped him in other ways. Helped him with things that he honestly didn't think anyone ever could.

Skylar noticed he was kind of distant one day and decided to ask what was wrong. His first response was to smile and say that he was fine, but she easily saw through that lie.

"You're talking to me, Chris. I invented that lie."

He chuckled a little before he shook his head. "I'm just thinking about family stuff. There's no need to worry about me. Honest." He smiled genuinely, but she could see the fog in his eyes.

She hugged him, and he paused before he reciprocated it. "You don't have to talk about it, but… can you tell me what I can do to make you feel better? I'm not the greatest at this kind of thing…"

He smiled and sighed contently. "Okay. You can let me win at Smash Bros."

She chuckled and looked at him with amused narrowed eyes, before they relaxed and she smiled at him. "Okay."

"Are you serious?" he asked in shock.

"Hey, I'd climb a mountain and put a flag with a dick printed on it on the top if it meant you would laugh, okay? I don't like seeing my friend upset." She grinned as he looked at her in fake awe.

"You'd do that for me?" Skylar snorted, which made him laugh himself as he hugged her again. As their laughter died down he said, "Thank you, Skylar… really."

She smiled into his shoulder before she asked, "So, Smash Bros?"

"Yeah."

After a few games, he _did_ talk about what he was thinking about. He was vague, but he talked about it. Apparently, his brothers were very stubborn asses.

One year and nine months from them bumping into each other at the library, Skylar had a setback. Whenever she felt like she needed to harm herself, she called Chris and he talked to her over the phone until he reached her apartment, telling her to focus; on him, on the things around her, just anything else apart from what she felt like she needed to do, focus on the present and not the past, just things to calm her down and distract her from the feeling.

Most of the time.

There were a few times when she couldn't help but do it. Like when she woke up from a nightmare, or she didn't manage to call him before a panic attack fully set in.

This particular time she didn't call him. But he came into the apartment and saw her. He gently shushed her with comforting words as she tried to explain herself, and reached over to the medkit then silently patched her up. He gave her a small smile and pulled her into a hug when her panic subsided, before he put his hand in hers and they sat down against the bath.

Tears kept coming from her even as he held her, being cautious of her arm as he did, and quietly spoke to her, "It's okay, sunray. You're okay."

She shook her head against his chest, before she pulled herself up and looked at him. "No. No, it's not. You shouldn't have to stop me from doing it all the time. I should stop it myself."

He gave her a sad smile and shook his head lightly. "Skylar, I don't mind helping you, honestly from the bottom of my heart. You shouldn't have to feel like you have to do this by yourself."

She let out a choked sound as she said, "I was doing- I was doing good. I-I hadn't done it in months and now…"

Chris sat them up properly and looked at her seriously. "Skylar, look at me. You're gonna have times like that, but it doesn't mean you've failed. It doesn't mean you should give up and let it take over. It's okay to have setbacks, just as long as you pick yourself up again and carry on." He placed a hand on one of her cheeks and wiped his thumb over to get rid of the tears that had fallen. "You're an amazing person, Skylar Raineri, and I'm _so_ proud of you."

Seeing how he really meant it… After everything that he had done for her, for the almost two years they had known each other… And with the high emotions that she was feeling in that moment… After being told things that no one had ever said to her before in her entire life…

She stared at him for a moment, eyes filled in amazement and gratefulness… and then she kissed him.

It was short as she pulled away almost as soon as she started it, and quickly stood up in embarrassment, not even looking at him. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I didn't... I mean I… Dammit, I mean…"

Hazel eyes like whiskey in sunlight stared at her in shock, before the corners of his eyes crinkled as a warm smile spread across his face, which made his dimples appear.

As Skylar continued to ramble on, Chris stood up and placed a hand on her shoulder to gently turn her around, and after a pause to make sure it was okay, he gently pressed his lips to hers. It was slow and sweet and she gasped at the tenderness behind it, before her eyes fluttered shut and she kicked herself into kissing him back. His hand moved from her shoulder up her neck, to cup her cheek as the other moved to her waist. Her own hesitantly rested against his chest, not sure what to do with them. He smiled against her lips before he pulled away, still staying as close as he possibly could. Their noses nudged against each other's, and their breaths mingled together as she stared at him with half-lidded, in awe, eyes.

He let his forehead rest against hers as he said, "Skylar... You deserve all the love I could possibly give and more... Don't ever doubt that."

"I... I don't even know what to…" she trailed off, wincing as she realised how cliché that sounded.

He simply chuckled before he said, "You don't have to say anything if you don't want to…"

She smiled and nodded. She glanced down to his lips then looked back up into his eyes with a question in her own, and he smiled then nodded. She moved to kiss him again and he met her in the middle.

When they pulled away he hugged her and nuzzled into her neck, as he let out a small shaky chuckle of a breath. "Can I stay here tonight?"

"I... Uh…"

He lifted his head up and quickly said, "I didn't mean it like that. I just meant hugs on the couch and watching a movie or something." He rose a brow and gave her a cheeky smile. "No need to go straight for the kill." She laughed nervously, and his face turned serious. "I mean it. Doesn't matter when, if ever. Okay, beautiful?"

Her nerves disappeared as she looked in his eyes and smiled. "Yeah." She booped his nose and asked, "You want some ice cream?"

"Uh, only always."

"Yeah, that was a stupid question."

He grinned and kissed her forehead. "Frozen dairy product questions are never stupid." She laughed as she placed her head against his chest, and he gently squeezed his arms around her before letting go to get them a delicious frozen treat.

He stayed the night and when they went downstairs in the afternoon the next day, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and kissed her cheek. Leah saw and smirked slyly. "Frank, you owe me twenty bucks."

Said Frank grumbled as he reached in his pocket to grab his wallet.

"You _betted_ on us?" Chris asked surprised, as Skylar stood with her mouth partly open in shock.

"Oh yeah, easy money." She grinned.

"I can't believe you, Leah…" Skylar said as they chuckled.

Chris winked at Skylar, before he went to leave the cafe, and Leah called out to him as he reached the door. "When the time comes, you better wear a condom!"

"Leah!"

"Of course!" Chris called back. It was safe to say that Skylar was bright red and when she looked over at him, he simply winked again. "See you later, my blue-eyed blossom."

"I-I... Wha…" _Blue… Blue-eyed blossom?!_

In the background, Skylar could hear Hazel mutter under her breath, "Aww, that's adorable."

Chris relaxed his shoulders as he looked at her lovingly. "You're so cute."

In shock at the whole situation and not being used to compliments, she adamantly shook her head. "I am not cute!" He simply grinned, chuckled lightly, and opened the door to leave.

After he left and Skylar's blush had died down a bit, Leah walked over to her and said, "Did you two actually-"

"No! No... I... No," She spluttered, kind of, sternly and opened the door to practically run upstairs in embarrassment.

"I'm just saying, you're 19, and-"

Skylar peeked her head through the door to say, "Stop, Leah, I'm begging you! It was bad enough that you made us go through, _in detail_ , about… everything to do with... that…. and puberty and… ugh, I'm going upstairs..." Her face scrunched up in disgust before she closed the door again.

Leah chuckled and shook her head in amusement, as Hazel giggled before they got back to work.

From that point on the days were filled with even more hugs, a few kisses now and again, and a hell of a lot of teasing from Leah.

The two were still figuring out how they felt about each other so they didn't name themselves a couple, and they were very patient with each other about the whole thing. They knew they deeply cared about each other. They knew they loved being in each other's company. They definitely liked being close to the other, be it hugs or a little smooch. They just didn't know if it was proper _love_ love yet.

Skylar had never been in love before, at least not properly, so she didn't really know. Especially considering she had only known him for just a little under two years. She definitely felt something deep for him though.

Just like he did for her.

Chris hadn't even _thought_ of Skylar that way up until a couple of _days_ before she kissed him. It was definitely something he hadn't thought of properly or felt in a long time. If he was being honest with himself, he was scared of it being something as serious as that. He could feel the metaphorical buds of love slowly blooming in him and he really didn't know what to think. But what he did know was that whatever happened, either they eventually fell in love or they stayed friends, he would stay by her side. He knew that he never wanted to leave her.

The _last_ thing he would do was leave her.

He would _never_ leave her side.

Then, about two weeks from their first kiss, Skylar woke up to a pale green sticky note on her bedside table. Her eyes widened from her sleepy haze as she re-read the note over and over until her eyes blurred. She quickly grabbed her phone to call Chris, but when she rang his number an automated message played. "We're sorry, but the number you have tried to call does not exist."

"What?" She tried again, and again, and _again_ , but was left with the same response.

Slumping against her headboard in defeat, a million thoughts ran through her head. Most of them ending up the same way.

"I... He…" She sighed deeply, letting the tears that fogged her vision fall as she closed her eyes. "Dammit."

 _Skylar, I'm sorry but I have to leave. Chris._

He left her.

And she was alone.

Again.

* * *

 **Can you tell I have no idea how to write kissing and romance-y type scenes? Anyway, I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. :3**

 **Also, please let me know (only if you want to let me know, no pressure to do so) if you would find the Tumblr thing interesting or not. :) I did have a few scenes that I wanted to add to this chapter but they didn't really fit, so maybe I could write them on there? Idk, again, it's up to you. :)**

 **And, just to clarify, in the scene near the beginning of the chapter with the creepy guy, I did not mean to imply that 'oh, she needed a big strong man (Even though in my mind he is a smol lanky string bean) to come along and save her from trouble.' You know that if Chris wasn't there Sky would've yeeted that guy's ass down the street. Chris helped because he saw the potential trouble and decided to intervene before creep guy said/did anything else. And not because it was Skylar, and she happens to be female. He would've done that for _any_ person on the freakin' planet.**

 **Until next time, you beautiful people you! :D**


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